Phanniemay 2019 Oneshots
by WastefulReverie
Summary: My oneshot entries for Phanniemay 2019! It's my second year approaching this challenge and I plan to finish by the end of the month!
1. Table of Contents

Hey guys welcome to my next descent into sleep deprivation: my Phanniemay 2019 entries. I plan to complete all the themes for May this year, so hopefully my schedule allows it! Here's a brief table of contents.

Day 1: Doorways (published with Portal Under My Skin)

Day 2: Secrets

Day 3: Grave

Day 4: Wishes (sequel to Phanniemay18's "Summoning")

Day 5: Only Time Will Tell

Day 6: Compromise (published with Vanish Into the Witching Hour)

Day 7/9: Black Hole Sun

Day 8: Sisters (sequel to Phanniemay18's "Girls")

Day 10/12: Into the Phantom-Verse

Day 11: Redesign

Day 13/16: Animals That Confine Me (published with Harvest)

Day 14: DnD

Day 15: The Replacement

Day 17/18: Séance

Day 19: A Sister's Devotion

Day 20: Comfort

Day 21: Double Date

Day 22/24: thnks fr th mmrs

Day 23: Graduation

Day 25: Blood Blossoms (sequel to Phanniemay18's "Stars")

Day 26: Speak to Me

Day 27/29: Underappreciated Fashion

Day 28: Vacation

Day 30: Moving On


	2. Secrets

**Day Two: Secrets**

**Word Count: 4571**

**Genre: Humor/Drama**

* * *

Paulina was a shameless revenge seeker. She was sure that most teenage girls would resort to petty tactics like meddling in other people's relationships or harmful pranks. Paulina wasn't like most other girls though; she was from Amity Park, the most haunted town in America. And she wasn't afraid to play by her _own_ rules.

It was a known fact that all of the Amity Park ghosts seemed to have some sort of gimmick about them. The Box Ghost, a loser in overalls who liked cardboard a lot; Skulkreex or something, who allegedly hunted other ghosts for prey; Ember McClain, an edgy rockstar who stole power through chanting; and most infamously, Danny Phantom, Amity Park's very own superhero. Some ghosts were just obsessed with their fixations, while others gained their power from it.

Fascinated by this concept, Paulina did some research on ghosts with specific fixations. Originally she'd been trying to learn if there was a ghost that specialized in turning people ugly. Instead she discovered something much more interesting.

She'd heard about a ghost that could reveal other's secrets from some goth college chick from the Skulk and Lurk, a pisspoor cesspool of emo debauchery. A goth book store wasn't the sort of place that Paulina would normally ever set foot, but she was desperate. No one else seemed to really know what was up with the ghosts besides the punk rockers and the crazy ghost hunters, and out of the two she preferred the punk kids.

"So you're looking for a ghost that can like totally screw up this girl's social life, right?" the goth girl asked. She had bright blue hair and nose ring that kept drawing Paulina's attention. Paulina didn't mind body or ear piercings, but facial piercings always managed to freak her out….

"Pretty much," she shrugged.

The girl scoffed, "Shit, I wish I had that much ambition when I was your age. Resorting to ghosts to deal some revenge; that sounds wicked."

Paulina crossed her arms, "Well, it's what this girl deserves. She just moved here and is making me look like an idiot in front of all my friends. I _won't_ stand for it."

"That's a fun attitude," the goth girl laughed. Paulina didn't get her sense of humor, but whatever. "Anyway, I think you should try summoning the Secret Ghost. She's a ghost that's super obsessed with revealing other people's secrets. She can sense people who are hiding things and feeds off of them when they're revealed."

"So… if I summon this ghost, she can reveal all of Bree's secrets and embarrass her?"

"If that's what you want," she answered with a sly grin.

Paulina didn't hesitate. "I'm in. How do I summon this lady?"

The goth girl reached for pen and started writing down instructions. "Well, first off, her name's Tajana…."

* * *

It took Paulina a week to follow the goth girl's instructions. Her first attempt to summon 'Tajana' had ended disastrously, and she had accidentally invited Technus into her house instead. Then the Fentons had to come over and completely debug all of her family's technology, which wasn't fun since it was the _Fentons_ for God's sake. She'd rather be on the receiving end of one of Dash's world famous wedgies than deal with Jack Fenton's ghost chatter. How his children lived with him… she didn't know.

Her second try summoning Tajana was much more successful. She performed the ritual in her bedroom and was greeted by a blue skinned, purple-haired, five-foot tall woman with a tail. She was smaller than some of the other ghosts that Paulina had met and wore a red tunic that blended with her tail.

"_Human_," Tajana spoke, "what have I been summoned for?"

Paulina had been half-expecting to be attacked on sight, so Tajana was already coming across more friendly than Paulina had anticipated.

"You are Tajana, correct? The ghosts that can sense secrets?"

"I am, indeed," the ghost nodded. "And what is that to you?"

"I want to make a deal," Paulina proposed. "I have a rival, and I want to reveal her deepest, darkest secrets. If you would help me do that, then we both win; you get power from her secret, and I get the satisfaction of exposing her."

Understanding her intent, the ghost grinned. "That can be arranged…"

"Great!" Paulina exclaimed in relief. "So how would we go about doing that?"

Tajana shrugged and drifted a few feet to the left, moving to sit on Paulina's bed. "Well," she started, "I don't really have the power the reveal secrets, it's more of a… premonition. I can sense who has strong secrets and from there I can predict the best course of action that will reveal them."

"So you can sense the future?" Paulina was confused.

"Not the future, no. I can… how do I put this?" Tajana groaned. "If someone has a strong secret, they give off a certain type of energy. For instance, you have a moderate energy; you have some secrets, but they aren't exactly _riveting_. Once I lock onto someone's secret energy, I can expedite the most probable scenario that will lead to a secret's exposure."

"Okay… I think I get it? Are you just going to follow me to school, then? I'll show you which girl is Bree, the girl I want to humiliate."

"That's… a bit complicated," Tajana winced. "Ghosts have to have some sort of tradeoff for their abilities. I can do some things that other ghosts can't, but in exchange I can't do things that other ghosts can. One of those things is that I can't go invisible. I doubt I'd make it five seconds in the human world without causing a complete panic."

Recalling Casper High's chronic ghost problem, Paulina couldn't tell Tajana that she was wrong. Usually when a ghost appeared, the default reaction was to get out of the line of fire at whatever cost. "Yeah, that doesn't seem like it'd work out…. So how am I going to get you close enough to Bree to expose her secrets?"

"Well, there's always possession," Tajana said offhandedly. "I can do that."

Paulina balked, stepping a few steps away from Tajana. "Possess? You mean like take control of me and lock me in my own body?"

"No," Tajana assured quickly, "_that's_ overshadowing. Possession is a bit different. Any ol' specter can overshadow. Possessing takes different skill; both of us are aware and share control of your body during possession."

Paulina raised a brow, gauging if she was serious. "You can do that but you can't turn invisible?"

She regretted her words immediately when Tajana's aura flared and her red eyes darkened in fury, "Are you _judging_ me, human?" she floated off of the bed and towered over Paulina. "I told you that in exchange-"

"No!" Paulina denied, blood rushing in her ears. "Not judging!"

Tajana closed her eyes for a moment, her aura fading back to normal. Paulina released a shaky breath of relief once the ghost had evidently placated. Tajana returned back to floating above Paulina's bed and resumed as if nothing had happened, "So would you be open to that idea?"

Paulina was taken off guard by the question, "Uh… with you possessing me?"

"Yes." Tajana stared at her, unnerving Paulina. It took her a moment to realize that the ghost wasn't blinking.

"I think it'll be weird," Paulina admitted, finding it difficult to associate herself with the notion, "but as long as you don't overstep your boundaries and let me have control over my own body, I'll do it. Anything to get back at that _bitch_."

Tajana smirked deviously. It wasn't the most attractive smile because fangs jutting from her lip gave a formidable impression rather than encouraging. "Then it's a deal. I'll cease my possession once both of us are satisfied."

To seal the deal, she offered her hand to Paulina. Realizing that she wanted her to shake her hand, Paulina faltered. Did she need physical contact to possess her or was this just a social gesture that Paulina was misinterpreting…?

"We're not going to do this now, are we?" she asked warily. "I'm not uh, ready to be possessed. After all, school isn't until tomorrow morning."

"Oh," Tajana's eyes widened in understanding. Paulina didn't even see the ghost lower her hand, it just materialized back at her side. _Weird_. "Well, I guess we'll wait until then."

* * *

Tajana left Paulina alone for most of the night, which Paulina was grateful for; but she still didn't get much sleep with the ghost's nearby presence. She woke up about an hour before school started, which was a little later than usual for her but she'd only gotten about three hours of sleep.

True to her word, Tajana only possessed Paulina rather than overshadowing her. Paulina had sat nervously on her bed waiting for the feeling of Tajana taking control, but the feeling never came. After about twenty seconds after Tajana had vanished from Paulina's vision, Paulina started to question if she had been fooled.

"Are you… did you do it?" she asked aloud.

**Yes,** Tajana spoke in her mind. Paulina jumped. Her voice drowned out everything else for a moment, loud; almost like she was speaking through a pair of headphones. The truth of the matter was what felt weirder, Paulina wasn't accustomed to a disembodied voice speaking in her head.

**Well, I do suppose that it does take some getting used to. Of course, not that I know - I've never been on your side of possession. **

Paulina squeaked, "You can read my _thoughts_?" She suddenly felt very invaded and was regretting her decision. What if she thought something she didn't mean to think and the ghost got angry? What if she thought something really embarrassing? (_Really embarrassing: like how I pretend to make out with Phantom in the shower with my shampoo bottle pretty much every day?) Mierda! _God, she hadn't wanted to think about that right now, that's so humiliating, _oh God_-

**Stop freaking out about it. I've been in the minds of perverts much less self-aware than you, sweetie. Nothing you say will make me judge you too much, or make me angry enough to ****_kill_**** you.**

_You're totally going to kill me. _"Uh… alright. I'll keep that in mind…."

Paulina sensed that Tajana was giving her the mental equivalent of rolling her eyes, but didn't say anything about it. I mean, what _could _she say about it?

"Let's just… go to my school," Paulina suggested. "We can talk more on the way there."

**Well, it's your body,** Tajana spoke. **I'm just here for the ride.**

* * *

Paulina didn't know if it was because there was a ghost in her head, nerves, or if the universe decided to spice things up today, but Casper High seemed unnaturally brighter. Colors that had been dull yesterday now popped out to Paulina. The gray water fountain was actually sort of a bright bluish, the yellow-green lockers glowed with unnatural saturation, and the orange flower that Star always wore was practically a physical sunset. She hadn't realized that there could be so much vibrance in the world.

**Yeah,** **I assume that's probably from me**, Tajana butted in on her thoughts. Paulina still wasn't used to the intrusion and fliched. **But just ignore it. We have more important things to worry about**.

"You're right," Paulina muttered under her breath. _I'll try to find Bree._

She knew that Breeana often got to school early and hung out near the cafeteria with some of the other A-List boys. _Slut_. She'd only moved to Casper High two months ago and had climbed to the top of the social ladder by fucking around with some of the jocks. When she arrived at the cafeteria, Bree wasn't there yet, so Paulina opted to wander aimlessly around the school until she found her.

She had probably spent no less than five minutes looking for her rival before Tajana spoke again. **_TURN BACK AROUND._**

Paulina immediately clutched her head. "_Ow_," she hissed. "That was _loud_."

**Well, I ****_said_**** turn back around,** Tajana commanded. Before Paulina could react, Tajana took control for a moment and made Paulina turn back towards the main hallway. She collided with two nerd girls that cursed at her but Tajana kept on walking.

_Do you sense Bree?_ Paulina thought.

**Maybe. It's vague but… this is the strongest energy I've ever felt from a human. This person has some ****_big_**** secrets…. I have to feed on their secret energy. I can't let an opportunity like this slip away.**

Paulina nearly laughed out loud in excitement. _It _has _to be Bree! I just knew that she had some big dark, dirty secret! Everyone else in this school is too boring; she's the only one that fits the bill!_

Tajana guided Paulina down the hallway, dodging backpacks and stray elbows like an expert. Eventually, Tajana slowed down and leaned against a nearby locker. Paulina crossed her arms and looked around, _I don't see Bree anywhere._

**Not her, ****_him_****, **Tajana corrected. She tilted Paulina's head toward a familiar group of losers. Fenton, Foley, and Manson were huddled together in their usual place, engaged in some sort of hush-hush discussion. **The one with blue eyes and black-hair, he has many, ****_many_**** secrets. It's almost overwhelming. The two beside him share some of his secrets, but they aren't as strong.**

Paulina scoffed in disbelief, "_Fenton?_"

She hadn't realized she'd spoken audibly (and very loudly, at that) until the trio of freaks turned towards her. There was at least ten feet between her and the losers, but it might as well have been one foot. A few onlookers watched the interaction with curiosity.

Danny bristled awkwardly, "Uh… hi Paulina?"

_Oh shit._ She hadn't meant to draw attention to herself, especially to that dweeb. Now he and his friends had closed the space between them and they were only an arm's length away.

"No," she blushed, nearly mortified, "not _you_."

**Yes, ****_him_****. He's the one; his secrets are valuable. I ****_need _****them.**

_Fenton's a nobody! He doesn't have secrets. The poor kid's practically an open book! We _should_be exposing Breeana Ahluwalia's secrets instead; she's the whore that's been talking shit about me!_

"Okay?" he nervously raised a hand to his neck. "Why'd you say my name then?"

**Look, we can reveal her after this guy. Look at him - he's clearly hiding something!**

"I doubt that," she hissed, answering Tajana. Danny gave her an odd look for a moment before she realized her mistake. "I mean… I thought you were someone else," she deliberately laughed. It distracted boys when she laughed. "It was a stupid mistake."

Instead of captivating Danny, her laugh only befuddled him. He threw her a skeptical look, "But you said _my_ name?" _Shit_, he was actually questioning her logical.

She shrugged weakly, "I didn't say it was a smart mistake."

"Alright then," he replied, turning back to his friends. Manson and Foley gave her odd looks before all three of them took off down the hallway.

**Follow them, **Tajana whispered. **You can't lose sight of him.**

_I don't want to follow around _Fenton! _I need to get revenge on Bree! Why don't you get it? Our original deal was to reveal her secret, and you're not holding up your end of it!_

Tajana sounded agitated, **Trust me, if you do this one thing for me I'll help you with your rival or whatever. All you have to do let me figure out the best way to reveal him! Easy as pie!**

_I don't know… _Paulina hesitated, _do you swear that you won't forget about Bree?_

**Yes, **Tajana broadcasted a semblance of honesty to Paulina. **I promise.**

_Fine, then I'll follow around Fenton or whatever so you can reveal his secret. Happy?_

**_Extremely._**

* * *

It wasn't how Paulina wanted to spend her day: a ghost rambling in her skull, constantly reminding her to spy on Danny Fenton - as if she wasn't doing an adequate job! She was ultimately stuck tailing three losers with little to no explanation available to her friends, who had all heard about Paulina's strange encounter with Fenton in the hallway that morning. But alas, this is how things were going and there wasn't exactly a way for her to get out of this situation. She figured that Tajana would stay in her head until she did want she wanted and ghost hunters were out of the question since Tajana could probably evade them.

**You got that right.**

_Stop listening._

**I actually can't. Suck it up.**

Jeez, this entire thing was getting stressful quickly. At least the loser trio hadn't noticed her following them yet, or so she thought. If they knew they were doing a pretty convincing job at hiding it, but she doubted that the two boys had good enough poker faces to pull it off.

She'd sat close to him in three classes, watched him across the room in gym class, and kept a keen eye on him during lunch. When he left to go to the bathroom in Lancer's class, she tried to follow him but Lancer wouldn't let her because of his stupid 'one person at a time' policy. School, as usual, was _bullshit._

When school let out for the day, she reluctantly refused Star's offer to hang out and lied. She claimed that her parents were grounding her unless she studied enough to get her Chemistry grade up to a C. Star seemed suspicious, but there wasn't anything Paulina could do; so she ditched her friend and followed Danny Fenton and his entourage to the Nasty Burger instead.

Oddly enough, Paulina didn't think she could recall a time when she visited Amity's favorite burger place alone. Ever. Usually she was with her friends, watching them make fools of themselves and using the nerds to put on a show. Sitting in a booth alone (save for the nagging voice in her head) was foreign to Paulina. And in a way, it was comforting. Or, at least she thought so until she remembered that she was _stalking_ someone.

**We're not stalking, we're just waiting. Sooner or later, an opportunity will present itself. When it does, you and I will swoop in and manipulate 'Fenton' into revealing his big juicy secret.  
** _… __and then we'll go find Bree?_

Tajana sighed. **Yes, we'll expose her too. For the thousandth time, I swear-**

Paulina looked up. Tajana had stopped talking for a reason and she had sensed it. Fenton had stood up, made some loud excuse to his friends, and ran out the back entrance of the restaurant.

**This is it. This is our chance!**

_Finally._

Paulina pushed herself out of the booth, waited until Foley and Manson were looking away, and also slipped out the back door. Her first impression was that the alley smelled rank, and wrinkled her nose. Focusing, she looked both ways and couldn't see Fenton which was impossible - he shouldn't have been to move so fast.

"I knew it," he Fenton said, somewhere to her left. She turned and he was sitting on top of the dumpster. He hadn't been there when she looked a second ago… _what_?

**Concentrate,** Tajana chastised.

_I am. _"F - Fenton? How'd you…?"

He crossed his arms. He looked so out of place on top of the dumpster, almost like some kind of bad boy… but Fenton wasn't a bad boy. "The jig's up," he said. "I know you've been following me because my ghost sense keeps going off around Paulina. Who are you? Kitty again?"

He voiced was laced with venom, which is definitely not what she expected to hear from the kid who spent most of his time stumbling through life as Dash's punching bag. Nevermind that, what was he even _talking about_? His 'ghost sense'? And what did he mean 'Kitty again'? Sure, there was that one time a ghost turned her into the anime character Sayonara Pussycat but why would he be talking about _that_ incident? Hell, how would he even know about it?

"What the hell are you saying, Fengeek?" she demanded. She was _not_ going to let this nerd confuse her.

He rolled his eyes. He pushed himself off the dumpster and hit the ground hard, landing on his feet. That sort of impact should have at least made his knees collapse, but he stood up straight, giving no indication that he was in pain.

"I know overshadowing when I see it. Now get out of her or I'll _force_ you out."

Paulina didn't know how to respond. How had he figured out that Tajana was in her? Of course, he had mistook possession for overshadowing, but he had figured the gist of the situation out. She didn't know how to respond, but before she could even think about it Tajana took the reigns. Paulina felt frozen, unable to control her own actions; Tajana was in control of her now and there was nothing she could do.

Her face contorted into a smug glare. "**Force?**" Tajana laughed, her voice echoing hauntingly. "**Who are ****_you_**** to force me to do anything, ignorant child? Who can't even tell the difference between overshadowing and possession… ****_pathetic_****.**"

Instead of cowering in fear, as Paulina expected Fenton to react, he grinned. "You're someone new then, huh? Not from around here either? Going on the fact that you don't know about me…."

"**What's your secret then, human?**" Tajana egged him on. "**What makes you believe you're so superior?**"

"Eh, just a few months of experience, I guess," he shrugged. Before Tajana could verbally goad him again, he threw up his arms into the air as if he was summoning something from the sky. He muttered something under his breath, confidence drawn all over his face. A flash of light sparked around his waist, hovering there before expanding into a ring of luminance around him. The light began to spread to the rest of his body, leaving dark material in the places it touched.

At this surprising sight, Paulina tried to take a few steps back but Tajana still wouldn't let her move. **This is ****_it_****! No wonder his secret is so strong, he's…**

The rings of light passed Fenton's torso, revealing a familiar white emblem on his shirt. Her mind lagged, refusing to process the shock of the revelation. Blue eyes were replaced by green; inky black hair was drained of its usual substance, leaving behind gravity-defying, ivory tufts that seemed to blur with movement. He was - _was_-

"**A****_ halfa! _****An ****_actual_**** halfa! Oh and the myths - the myths are real!**"

No, _he's Phantom. He's Danny Phantom._ What the hell? Tajana had insisted that Fenton had some kind of deep secret incomparable to anyone else she'd met… and this was it? Paulina didn't understand, no, she _couldn't _understand. What was Tajana even blathering about 'half ofs?' Paulina couldn't shake the feeling of general wrongness that was here; none of this was right.

Now Fenton - Phantom - who_ever_ he was; looked confused, "If you didn't know, why were you followi-…?" he trailed off. He shook his head and jumped five feet into the air. Paulina's stomach dropped when she realized that he wasn't falling down. "Ugh - _whatever_," he declared. "Don't think that'll stop me from kicking your butt! It's up to you whether Paulina is involved or not."

She'd seen Phantom fight ghosts many times, but now that she knew that he was Fenton, she couldn't help but perceive his actions through a murky lense of disbelief. The notion of _Fenton_ \- the cowardly son of infamous ghost hunters - using ghost powers was just _perturbing_. On top of that, he was fighting _her_ because he thought that Tajana was controlling her, which was true… but at least it was consensual? She couldn't handle it all. She wanted to squeeze herself into nothingness, escape this dizzy, confusing situation. Yet Tajana forced her to stand; to face Pha - Fent - no, _Danny…_ head on.

"**Don't tempt me, halfa,**" Tajana laughed. Once again, the reverb of her voice occupied the alley unnaturally. Rising to his challenge, she also leapt up into the air, hovering opposite of him. "**Thanks to your little revelation… I'm ****_much_**** more powerful now.**"

"Oh," Danny raised his eyebrow, feigning interest, "and what's that supposed to mean?" He clenched his palm and willed a sphere of ecto-energy around his fist, extending it towards her. At that sight, Paulina's mind reeled with panic. _Tajana, don't do this, you won't win. I'm going to get _hurt_. You can't win against Danny._

The ghost mentally scoffed, **No.**

She tilted her head, looking unimpressed at Danny's ectoblast. "**Secrets empower me,**" she explained.** "Therefore, the exposure of ****_your_**** secret has only made me stronger.**"

"Oh, _joy_," Danny deadpanned. And with that simple quip, he shot the blast directly at Paulina. Internally screaming, muffled by Tajana's presence, Paulina only felt a faint tingling sensation strike her stomach. Tajana on the other hand... **_Fuck! _****This heavy meat suit is hindering my reaction time!**

_Uh, did you just call me fat? Do you wanna fucking _go, _puta?_

**Sorry, this isn't exactly the ****_time!_**

Tajana held a hand to Paulina's stomach, hissing at the burn that grazed her own body residing underneath Paulina's flesh. They were still in the air, but Tajana was lagging in flight, too slow to do anything else. Not wasting any time, Danny closed in on her and summoned another ectoblast. Instead of shooting it at her, he grabbed Paulina's shoulder and intangibly forced his hand _through_ Paulina's chest.

It was like electricity was shooting all throughout her nerves; she felt Tajana be ejected from her body and the sinking sensation of gravity return. With Tajana somewhere behind her, Paulina began to fall towards the ground, a whopping twenty foot drop that would certainly render her severely injured from this angle. But before she could shriek in alarm, the cold hand that had pulled out of her chest moments before wrapped around her waist, pulling her back into orbit. _Phantom._ (yet, Fenton.)

He flew them back to the alley, making sure that Paulina's feet were planted firmly on the ground before he stopped supporting her balance. Then, he swiped one of the thermoses from his belt, lunged back into the sky, and tracked down Tajana. Paulina observed in horror as the ghost she had made a deal with was hopelessly sucked and contorted into Danny's containment device. With one last agonizing wail about her "**_rightful power_**", Tajana fell silent inside the thermos.

Paulina didn't even notice when Danny returned to the alley, unconsciously floating a good foot off of the ground. Even his reflexive use of otherworldly abilities unnerved her; how much of a ghost _was_ Danny Fenton?

"Well, looks like she was all bark and no bite," he commented snarkily, tossing his thermos up in the air for good measure. He attached it back to his belt and turned back to Paulina. Noticing her bafflement, his expression softened with concern. "Are you uh, okay? You were overshadowed; a ghost took over your body," he explained.

Paulina just gawked. She still couldn't believe….

Sensing that she was uncomfortable, he tried reassuring her. "I got rid of her though, don't worry!" He forced a heroic smile, and for the first time, Paulina could see the real kid underneath Phantom's noble veneer.

"Fenton," she whispered, "what the _fuck_?"

The bold smile fell off of his face faster than she could think '_whoops_'.


	3. Grave

**Day Three: Grave**

**Word Count: 1683**

**Genre: Horror/Humor**

* * *

One thing that Danny didn't exactly understand about the ghosts that visited Amity Park was the fact that there was never any ghost attacks in the _one_ place you'd expect ghosts to haunt. Ghosts haunted the amusement park, the movie theater, library, local restaurants, the school - just about anywhere, really. But despite all horror movie lore, he'd never encountered any ghosts in a graveyard. That said, Danny hadn't actually visited a graveyard since eighth grade. But despite all odds, he'd never had to hunt down any ghosts to a graveyard or even had his ghost sense go off in the vicinity of one.

_So_, he thought with a distinct lack of eloquence, _I guess I'll just fuck around in a graveyard and see what happens. _There had to be some explanation for why ghosts avoided graveyards despite all stereotypes.

Unlike most normal people, Danny didn't really have any phobias about being around dead people or things. After all, he was partially dead to some degree and it would be somewhat detrimental to his sleep schedule if he stayed up scared of _that_ aspect of himself. (Sure, he had other phobias, but 'being undead' was definitely one he'd already conquered.) Therefore, the idea of sneaking into public property reserved for planting corpses in the middle of the night wasn't exactly unnerving to him.

So, once he convinced his parents that he was in bed for the night, Danny transformed, flew out the wall, and headed for Amity Park's biggest graveyard. It wasn't too far from his house, oddly enough - just about five blocks away.

When he arrived, there was nothing notably unsettling straight off the bat. It was a typical graveyard, an assortment of cracked tombstones with various tells of aging. In this area of the graveyard, most of the markers were fairly dated but not necessarily new nor old; most of them were from the 1960s-70s. To his left were more modern graves, most of them were made of some variant of marble and each occupied a clean square of land; to his right were the debilitated tombstones, messy rows of stone graves that lacked the same _precision_ that the newer graves had. It felt especially eerie to see the evolution of time within the average grandeur and organization of graves.

Danny flew towards the left, deciding to hang out around the newer graves. The moderately cool, autumn air seemingly vibrated with his movement - somewhat draining him of his energy. _That_ was strange. It was like the atmosphere _itself_ was tiring him, absorbing his excess ectoenergy. Figuring that he was too tired to float now, Danny lowered himself between two graves (_Johnson, 2006; Coulier, 2004_) and surrendered to gravity.

His ghostly glow illuminated the ground, casting weird shadows on the tombstones. Now that he could see, he observed that the grass was withered and brown, acting as a weak padding between his feet and the rancid, liquidy mud that sloshed beneath his weight. He hadn't realized that it had rained lately, but there was no other reason that the ground would retain so much water….

A hazy heaviness settled within his core akin to fatigue. It was sudden yet the feeling was still building, and it was building gradually, paralyzing him where he stood. When he had been flying, it had felt like something was sucking up the energy he exerted. But now… with his feet firmly on the ground, he was directly linked to whatever force was draining energy around the graveyard. Something about his physical connection to the Earth was depleting him. It felt like tendrils had snaked around his feet, into his body, and had a hand around his core; smothering him and easing him into sleep. _Disorienting dizziness swimming all around_.

This wasn't good, at this rate he'd probably pass out. This rush of exhaustion was tempting to succumb to, but Danny held onto himself. _But my core is so tired…._

He forced himself to move, stumbling over his own feet and recklessly catching himself on a tomb. His sleep deprived mind focused on the epitaph below him like it was the only thing that mattered: '_Loving wife, mother, and free spirit - Tonya Gatlin, 1965-2007.' _He had to stay awake. He needed to stay oriented.

Danny squinted, attempting to see past the weariness that was causing his eyelids to droop. Everything was blurred, all too surreal. And was he… hallucinating? As if someone flipped a switch, he could suddenly see through the ground. Below the dead grass, every few feet or so there were yellow-greenish outlines of tangled limbs; rows among rows of glowing x-rays of corpses beneath their tombstones above. Sickly yellow skeletons peppered with opalescent green strips of decaying flesh; slack-jawed skulls crawling with milky-toned maggots.

Reality shifted, and suddenly the radiating images of corpses beneath the ground were the clearest thing in Danny's world. What was this? Was he so tired that he was making the ground invisible with his powers? Could he even _do_ that? No, it must be a side effect of whatever had latched onto his core. He had been plugged into a network of dormant souls, fragments of the deceased that remained unconscious in their bodies. Not even conscious ghosts were immune to the fatigue here.

This must be why ghosts never wandered into graveyards; the allure of sleep here was too strong. No wonder they called it a 'final resting place'.

The bodies beneath the dirt hummed with a soft resonance, inviting him to stay. He was so lethargic that the small spark of protest in his mind was easily stifled with another influx of drowsiness. His head felt sluggish and heavy and he knew that he couldn't stand much longer. He needed to find a place to sleep, to allow himself to slip away into the captivating lull of death.

So, Danny let go of the tombstone he was using to stay balanced. Detached from his own actions, he walked aimlessly through the rows of graves, allowing his core to guide him through this labyrinthe assortment of tombs. Instead his head, he was just a spectator observing his body act on the whims of the graveyard's demands.

He approached the edge of the property and there was already a vacant grave made; a six-foot deep cavity in the ground. It was clearly a suitable bed for the deceased, and he was tired, so why shouldn't he sleep in it? With what was left of his power, he eased himself down into the grave with a bout of levitation. Once his body was settled in the dirt, enclosed by the Earth on all sides, Danny allowed himself to slip into a tranquil slumber.

* * *

When Danny woke up, there was a faint murmuring coming from somewhere behind him. Or, at least it sounded like it was behind him; which didn't make sense because his bed was pushed up against the wall? Nobody should be standing behind his bed.

Unless... he wasn't _in_ his bed. Instead, he was laying on a hard, lumpy surface - it was cold, but at least it wasn't a lab table. About ten seconds after that thought, he realized that he had no flipping clue where he was. Yesterday's memories were yet to compute in his brain. _Just fucking great. _

Refusing to face reality yet, he squinted his eyes firmly shut, hoping to ignore whatever problem he had to deal with today. Ignorance was supposedly bliss and until he was forced to wake up, he was staying in the dark. Physically _and_ metaphorically.

Unfortunately, the voices around him became discernible.

"-ever happened before? This is _ridiculous-_"

"-not even injured-"

"-stupid Amity Park teens always pulling this crap-"

Giving in to his curiosity, Danny hesitantly opened his eyes. It was bright so everything took a moment to come into focus, but he could tell that he was on his back, outside, vulnerable to the sky above him. People were above him, far above him, because for some reason he was at the bottom of some hole in the ground…? Individual faces came into focus, some shocked, with watery red eyes; others were cold, precise and dark makeup holding their expression together. No one looked pleased to find him laying at the bottom of this chasm, wherever this was.

He awkwardly pushed himself into a sitting position, and the murmuring above him ceased. How had he gotten here? Who were those people?

Someone cleared their throat, "_Ahem_… Kid - are you… okay down there?" a man asked nervously. Danny looked up and tried to discern which of the people had spoken. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw a young bearded man dressed in a formal suit, nervously clutching the hand of another terrified woman.

"Where _am_ I?" Danny wondered. Someone sniggered while most of the people leering at him bristled in discomfort. Feeling like a big under a magnifying glass, Danny averted his eyes and looked down at his muddy jeans instead. Oh, right - his _jeans_; he completely forgot to check if he was Fenton or Phantom. At least now he knew that he was supposed to be a human in this scenario.

"You're in Raven Grove Cemetery," the humored voice replied. "Must've fallen in there, sonny."

And suddenly, everything made much more sense. The broken faces, weakly held together by circumstance; why he was at the bottom of some pit, a _grave_; and now that he really looked, he could see the corner of a glossy, oak box on the ground…. _Holy shit_, this was mortifying. How had he even fallen into an empty grave? It's not like he could really fall with his ghost powers and all! He must've… must've gone to the bottom of the grave himself, to sleep….

He looked at the anticipating faces above him, judging him for disrupting this already painful ceremony. His presence had completely impeded on someone's burial and there wasn't much he could do to make up for it.

"I uh, tripped?" he tried weakly.

_He was never going to live this one down if Sam or Tucker found out._


	4. Wishes

**Day Four: Wishes**

**Word Count: 6920**

**Genre: Suspense**

* * *

"His name was Tucker Foley…" Star looked down, tears clouding in her eyes, "he was… your best-friend. You have to get him back, _please_, Danny. Tell the Ghost King to help, we _beg_ you."

Well, that sure made things a lot more complicated for Danny. It was just one of those things that he thought he had learned to expect at this point, but still was taken off-guard each and every time. Desiree erasing some best-friend he never had? That wasn't where he expected today to go, but why _not_ at this point? He'd already died, came back as a hybrid, somehow became a superhero, and inherited an entire dimension.

"So let me get this straight?" he asked to confirm. "Supposedly instead of Sam, I have _another_ guy best friend that you guys just wiped out of existence?" the three of them looked guilty and Lester almost squeaked when he made eye contact with Danny. "Are you sure?"

Elliot's steely voice masked his nervousness, "If we weren't sure," he accused, "would any of us be here?"

"Yeah, but…" Danny trailed off, looking for the right words. "It's always been Sam and I. Ever since sixth grade. But…"

The idea of what they were telling him was still pretty wild, all things considered. Apparently he had some other best-friend besides Sam. Did this Tucker guy know that Danny was Phantom? How exactly close were they? Or was 'best-friend' just an exaggeration on Star's behalf? If he really did have a second best friend, Danny doubted that he would be able to keep his secret from him, so he had to just assume that this Tucker dude knew about it too.

Star, Lester, and Elliot watched Danny patiently, a shadow of fear in their eyes. They were afraid of how he would react, but honestly Danny didn't know how he felt. He didn't know Tucker Foley personally, he didn't have a reason to be upset that he was gone. But the idea that Desiree had erased a soul from existence was definitely _not_ okay. He should enraged, aghast, and upset over what she had done, but instead he just sort of felt… numb.

After all, he was the Ghost King, so getting Desiree to reverse one wish shouldn't be difficult with his status. But that didn't really explain the apathy he felt over the existence of someone who was supposedly close to him. Maybe it was a side effect of the wish? Who knew? Or maybe… maybe these three were pulling his leg.

But then again, it wasn't the first time that something like this had happened with Desiree. There had been that time when Sam wished that they had never met and as a result he lost his powers. Things had felt weird then, too. And from what Star, Lester, and Elliot had done, he didn't have any concrete reason to doubt them. They were just trying to resolve their mistake.

"Danny?" Star finally asked, pulling him out of his reverie. "Are - are you mad?"

He almost jumped at her voice but he thought better of himself. "No," he shook his head. "I - I believe you and I'm not mad. This isn't the first time I've been in the middle of one of Desiree's wishes. To fix it, we just have to find her and get her to reverse it."

Lester looked at Danny as if he'd grown two heads. For a moment, he was partially self conscious, wondering if growing two heads was some kind of Ghost King thing. Then Danny realized how ridiculous that sounded and resolved that worry. "'We'?" Lester quoted skeptically. "I thought you said that the Ghost King was going to fix it."

Well, since Danny _was_ the Ghost King, he'd meant that he was going to be the one to resolve it, not any of them. It was just a moment of misspeaking.

"Yeah," Danny rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm the one who has to go and tell him to fix it, so that's sorta what I meant. He'll take care of it, don't worry."

Elliot narrowed his eyes, obviously scrutinizing the 'Ghost King's human helper'. Danny felt a pang of worry under Elliot's glare; he was someone who was skilled in deception and lying. Someone like him would easily be able to spot when a story didn't add up. And Danny wasn't flawless, there were definitely some holes in his explanation.

"I'll go with you to tell him, then," Elliot declared suddenly. "After all, I'm part of the problem, so I should make up for it."

Danny saw what he was doing. He was trying to insert himself into this situation so he could ensure that Danny was telling the truth. After all, if he had any reason to think that Danny _couldn't_ solve his problem, Elliot was sorta entitled to involve himself. And it's not like Danny had exhibited a lot of trust. Asking to tag along wasn't necessarily bad, but since Danny _was_ lying, he couldn't really allow Elliot to find out that he was the Ghost King.

"I can't really let you do that," Danny answered, probably much too quickly. "The Ghost King, well, he doesn't really like having audiences with humans that he doesn't know," he lied. "It's just kind of a rule…."

The trio shared an incomprehensible look. Star crossed her arms, "But doesn't the Ghost King trust you? A _human_," she pointed out, jabbing her thumb towards his chest. "I kinda want to go too," she added. "After all, we're the ones who got ourselves into this mess. I can't just trust you blindly, because for all _I _know you could make it worse! You don't exactly have the best rep, _Fenton_."

"Wow, _thanks_," Danny rolled his eyes. As if he didn't know Casper High's overall opinion of his human form. "I still don't think it's a good idea, whether you trust me or not. The Ghost King…" he hated referring to himself as some malevolent ruler, but he didn't really have a choice, "he can be _unpredictable_. You don't know him like I do."

Star tilted her head, seeing if Elliot or Mikey wanted to speak up. Elliot was silently fuming and Lester was still trying not to have a panic attack. When neither spoke, Star smirked. "If you know him so well, then couldn't I just tell your parents? Good old Maddie and Jack Fenton… at the Fenton Hotline, '1-888-FENTONS'? That's what all their flyers around town say, I think…. Just _one call_ and they'll find out that their precious little Danny is friends with the Ghost King." She raised her hand to her cheek. "Now that'd be a shame, wouldn't it?"

Danny paled. Star had found his weak point. Sure, he was practically undead royalty with legions of ghosts and spirits at his command, but nothing quite scared him like his parents finding out. He couldn't risk Mom and Dad learning that he was even _associated_ with the Ghost King, because from there it could easily snowball.

"You wouldn't…" he exhaled slowly.

"_Bet_," Elliot backed her up.

"There's nothing I do better than ratting people to their parents," she agreed. "So unless you want that to happen, I'd consider letting us come with you."

Danny swallowed. That was a pretty solid threat, not one he could get out of easily. There was really no way of preventing her from calling his parents since phones were readily available everywhere and she already knew their hotline number. The only way he could hope to keep his parents from finding out about him being 'friends' with the Ghost King was to surrender to Star. Which was risky considering all that could go wrong. They could find out that Danny was Phantom, they could find out that Phantom was the Ghost King, they could find out that Danny (supposedly human) was the Ghost King... or they could learn everything. It didn't look promising, but what choice did he have?

He sighed, "Fine… you can come with. But you'll have to listen to me the entire time; the Ghost Zone is a complex place and unless you know what you're doing it's pretty dangerous. It's probably too late today," it wasn't, but Danny needed time to plan, "so you guys can meet me at my house tomorrow. Tell my parents it's for a group project and they'll buy it. Also, since we're going to the Ghost Zone, jackets are heavily recommended."

"Good," Star nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Ugh, your _house_?" Danny saw the usual look of apprehension whenever someone talked about Fenton Works. "Well, if it means this entire thing will be fixed and over…."

"You guys are seriously doing that?" Lester spoke up for the first time in minutes, staring at Star and Elliot with looks of abject terror. "Ju - just _going_ into other dimensions with tons of dangerous _ghosts_!"

"Its not like the entire town _hasn't_ been there before," Star pointed out.

"Besides, if Fenton goes all the time, it can't be that dangerous," Elliot quipped.

"You three have fun, but count me _out_," Lester declared. "I'd rather stay alive than be killed at the mercy of some King."

Well, at least Danny only had to fool two classmates instead of three.

* * *

Once Danny left Casper High's basement, he made sure that he was far away from any prying eyes before he transformed in the janitor's closet. He had to find a solution, and quickly. As Fenton, he had to take two humans to meet the Ghost King - _him_ \- without them finding out that he was a ghost, the king, or Phantom. He also didn't want anyone to know Phantom was the Ghost King, so he couldn't just duplicate his ghost form. He had to bring in a third party to pretend to be the king, that way neither Fenton nor Phantom were accused of being king.

And… he only had less than a day to figure out a plan. _Great, just great._

Normally he'd take the less tiring route home and fly, but Danny was anxious. He needed to go home, _now_. So, he closed his eyes and let his surroundings melt away - envisioning that he was in his room rather than a broom closet. With a forceful tug of his core, he was teleported a few feet above his bed. He floated down onto the mattress, and transformed back into Fenton. Teleportation was convenient, but it drained his energy levels a lot so it wasn't really practical to use in any fights yet.

"Sam," he muttered to himself. "Gotta call Sam."

He was at a loss. He didn't know what to do and he needed to vent. Sam usually had good ideas about these sorts of things, she could usually orchestrate some sort of risky scheme. Even though he was a king, he was still only a fighter; unlike Sam, he didn't know shit about strategy.

He found his phone and clicked on her contact, impatiently waiting for her to pick up his call.

"Hey, Danny," Sam answered. "So I got a call from Jazz? She said you completely ditched her at the grocery store." Oh right, that's what he'd been doing before he was suddenly summoned into the basement… Since the fridge got contaminated again, Mom had tasked him and Jazz to buy some new food while she fought off the ecto-eggs and killer-milk. That was something else that slipped his mind; he really hoped that no bystanders had seen him disappear into thin air.

"Right… I actually forgot about Jazz," he suddenly realized. His sister knew his secrets, so she probably wasn't _that_ worried, but… "I'll pop in and explain things to her once I update you. I _really_ need your advice." So from there, he told her about how the Ghost King had been summoned by Star, Lester, and Elliot because they wanted him to reverse one of Desiree's wishes. He left out what the wish was, not wanting to delve into the complicated details of apparently one of his friends _not existing_. He then explained his problem about how Danny Fenton was going to take them to meet the Ghost King without Phantom being revealed as the king.

"Yeah… that's a tricky one," Sam groaned. "Man, only _your_ life would be that complicated. Having to keep three separate identities…."

"_Tell me about it_," he rolled his eyes habitually.

Sam laughed, "So, what I think you should do - just an idea - is have a stand-in king. Choose someone that you can trust pretend to be the Ghost King. You'll bring Star and Elliot to visit him and he'll… bring in his best fighter, Phantom, to go and reprimand Desiree."

"So I'll duplicate myself, the Ghost King will tell Phantom to go get Desiree, and Fenton will stay with Star and Elliot?"

"I mean, that way you can still go punish Desiree as the king without letting Star and Elliot know that you are the king," she clarified.

"Yeah, that could work… plenty of room for things to go wrong, but it seems thorough enough. I can probably talk my way out of it if things _really_ go south. The only problem is finding a ghost trustworthy enough to pretend to be king. Someone who's probably a good actor too…."

"So… are we looking for a ghost who doesn't care about power but can still lie through their teeth?" Danny asked rhetorically.

"You have one in mind." Sam said rather than asked.

"I'm pretty sure," Danny affirmed. "I'll probably have to go to the Ghost Zone tonight to find them, though. Could you cover for me with my parents if I don't get back before curfew?"

"Of course, _my liege_," she joked.

He snorted. "That's _King_ Phantom to you."

She paused for a moment, and he wondered if she hadn't got the joke. It was Sam though, and she usually got his jokes.

"Well, sorry _my King Phantom_," when she spoke, he heard movement in the background, "but my Mom's screaming about dinner. I gotta go. Is there anything else you need help with though? We can text about it while I pretend to listen to my parents at the table."

She knew him too well. She sensed reluctance in his explanation and had figured out that there was something else going on; the entire situation with Tucker Foley. He didn't know what to say to her. It's not like he could just tell her, 'Oh, yeah - I apparently have another best friend and Star, Lester, and Elliot wished that he didn't exist!' That'd go over just _swell_. If he was having trouble processing the implications of another friend being a part of his life, _she_ would totally freak out.

"Nah, I think I'm good. And I should probably go keep up appearances with my family," he paused, "let them know I'm not _dead_."

She didn't have to laugh for him to know she thought it was funny. "I think you're a little too late for that one, Danny. Call me if anything comes up." She didn't sound entirely convinced that he was alright, but at least she let it go. "I'll take to you later."

"Bye," he replied, hanging up her call. He dropped his phone onto his bed and groaned. This entire thing was going to take some work to pull off, but he'd do it. Every king needs a fair amount of trials to keep him on his toes, right?

_All that matters is that my secret stays safe and I reverse _that wish.

* * *

Danny woke up late that morning. The first thing that he heard was the doorbell ringing, a loud "I'll get it, sweetie! Those ghosts will learn not to ring Jack Fenton's doorbell!", and then two consecutive screams.

In other words, an average morning in the Fenton household.

And then, Danny realized who was screaming: Star and Elliot. Because he had invited them to his house so all three of them could go visit the 'Ghost King'. _Oh_. And he was still in bed and his Dad was probably bombarding them-

Danny quickly phased out of his pajamas, found some clothes on the floor (a Dumpty Humpty hoodie and jeans), and clamored down the stairs like his feet were on fire. By the time he made it to the door, his dad was lowering his weapon in disappointment, Star was still struggling to pick her jaw off the floor, and Elliot was eyeing the living room like he was afraid more threats were going to jump out at him at any moment. And honestly, Elliot probably wasn't wrong.

"Are these friends from school Danno?" Jack asked, noticing his son's frantic arrival.

"Yeah…" Danny heaved, out of breath from the stairs, "_-project_."

"Oh, that's great!" Jack smiled. He dropped his weapon next to the coat rack, and stood out of the doorway. "Danny hasn't had anyone over since Spooky Girl's parents let her stop coming-"

"-Sam, Dad. Her name's _Sam_."

"-so this'll be fun! You kids can come inside and take a seat on the couch and I'll have Maddie make some fudge! It's the best. We got the fridge decontaminated, right Danno?"

"Yeah, Dad," Danny nodded. Star and Elliot were watching their conversation with wide eyes. Danny figured he should get his dad out of their business before Mom came in. "But uh, I was thinking we could go upstairs and work? I have a lot of the stuff we need in my room and I feel like it'd be more productive."

Jack deflated a bit, but his smile never left his face, "Oh, alright then! You kids have fun! Feel free to come down and hang out any time. Mads and I are always up for giving tours of the lab too! Ghosts _are_ our thing, after all!"

Ignoring Jack's spiel, Danny managed to usher their two guests up the stairs. "Yeah. Thanks, Dad!" he called. He turned the corner and dragged Star and Elliot into his bedroom and locked the door behind them. Ignoring the fact that it was a complete mess, Danny straightened the blanket on his bed and gestured for them to sit. Neither Star nor Elliot moved.

"I thought we were going down to your parents' lab," Star crossed her arms. "Or is the portal to the ghost world in your closet?"

Danny looked nervously between her and his door. "Don't say the _g-word_ so loud. Dad's still downstairs…."

"What are we doing then, _space_ geek?" Elliot quipped, mocking some of Danny's model rockets that were strewn around. "Man, you're such a dork. You even have those glow and the dark kiddie stars on your ceiling."

"They're not _just_ for kids," Danny rolled his eyes.

Star shrugged, "I think they're cool."

Both Danny and Elliot gawked at her; Star never agreed with a geek. Once she realized what she had said, Star blushed, "I like space stuff too. Everyone just sorta buys me star-related stuff because of my name. I've learned to like it because of that."

"Understandable," Danny conceded.

Elliot scoffed, "Well, anyway. We didn't come here to look at your spacey room. What about reversing that wish?"

"Oh, yeah," Danny said. "Gimme a second. I gotta get my parents out of the house before we can sneak into the lab. It's just easier that way…."

He stumbled over some jeans on the floor and picked his phone up from his night stand. He scrolled through his texts and sent Sam a quick message. Not fifteen seconds later, the home phone downstairs rang. They pulled this trick with his parents a lot, so he knew she'd follow through with it. All Sam had to do was pretend to be a 'citizen in distress' and tell the Fentons that a ghost was causing trouble across town. It worked every time like a charm, a surefire way to get his parents out of the lab.

"What was that about?" Elliot asked haughtily.

"Wait for it," Danny told him. There was a pause, and suddenly there were sounds of crashing footsteps, guns powering up, and the front door slammed with a resounding finality. "They're gone now. The lab's all ours. I'll leave a note on the table saying we went to the library for them to see when they get back." He opened his door and began back down the stairs.

"And they won't find that the least bit suspicious?" Star asked, almost… impressed?

"Nope! They'll be too busy to really wonder about it."

"Dude," Elliot commented, "your parents make sneaking out _really _easy. No wonder you skip class all the time."

"Well, uh - that's-" Danny gulped. "That's still something they're trying to stop. But when duty calls, I gotta help the Ghost King."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's _top priority_," Elliot rolled his eyes.

_If only he knew_. "Pretty much," Danny didn't even bother to look back at him. He scrawled a quick note for his parents' return and led his accomplices down to the lab. "Don't touch anything," he warned. He could feel their eyes wandering around the room, eyeing the dangerous scraps of technology and nearby dangerous chemicals. He knew firsthand how nasty some of this stuff was; he'd half-died down here, after all.

He stopped at the back wall of the lab. There wasn't much there except for the control panel for the portal and a large object under a tarp. He threw off the tarp and revealed the Specter Speeder, Star and Elliot's ride into the Ghost Zone. Unlike him, they couldn't fly so this was their only means of transportation.

"We're going to the Ghost Zone… in _that_?" Star asked, regarding the Speeder skeptically.

"Yeah. And before you ask, it's perfectly safe." Danny stopped and smirked, "I'm like fifty percent sure that there's another oxygen for all three of us."

"Wha - fifty percent?" Elliot choked. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

Danny sniggered. "Take a joke, dude. This thing is state of the art - tons of emergency systems, defenses, and plenty of air. We're going to be fine." He opened the door for them to step in.

Star sighed and gave in, hoisting herself into the vehicle, "Just know that if I die in this thing," she warned, "my parents are _totally_ suing you."

"If _I_ die I'm coming back to haunt you," Elliot decided, following Star.

"I'll look forward to it, then," Danny said, taking the driver's seat and closing the door after him.

* * *

Danny thought that after they passed through the portal safely, that Star and Elliot would stop panicking. He was unfortunately mistaken. Star kept clutching onto the dashboard and Elliot kept loudly tapping his foot to express his anxiety. Their fear felt strong; he normally tuned out his emotional sensory abilities in the human world, but here in the Ghost Zone they felt much more concentrated.

"Do you have a driver's license, Fenton?" Star wondered after about five minutes into their journey.

He felt like she already the answer but humored her anyway, "No_pe_."

She opened her mouth to try and respond but didn't say much else for the remainder of the flight. Elliot couldn't bring himself to insult Danny either. Danny was almost tempted to pull some kind of stunt to mess with them, but he figured that he should probably stick to the plan. He was already taking a bunch of risks today, it'd suck to screw it all up before it began by doing something incredibly stupid. Like crashing the speeder and having to save Star and Elliot with his powers. That was definitely a scenario he'd like to avoid.

So, he stuck to the route to Pariah's Keep, which was technically Phantom's Keep now - but everyone still kind of called it Pariah's. It wasn't too far away from the Fenton Portal, but Danny was deliberately driving slower than usual so that his passengers wouldn't panic. Overall, it took fifteen minutes to arrive at the king's palace (he could usual fly there in three). Danny parked on the ledge that founded his palace and ushered Star and Elliot out.

"This is… wow," Star gasped, taking in the full environment. The green sky churned darkly around them, ectoplasm dripping into cloud-like masses. Pariah's Keep loomed above them, a dark red monument that resembled a medieval castle, yet even more primitive. Danny had been trying to update his palace a bit, make it more modern, but there was little he could do outside of tearing the whole place down.

Gravity defying towers jutted out of the side of the castle, only the lack of physics within the Ghost Zone supported them. There were rows of paned windows that were far too dark to see through, but added mystique to the eerie design of the castle. There weren't any doors, just open archways for ghosts to float through without any hassle. Lastly, the entire construct was enveloped with its own white aura. When Pariah ruled, the castle's aura had been green, but now that it belonged to Danny, it glowed white instead.

Truthfully, even though the Keep was his now, it didn't feel that way. Amity Park was his home, his lair. When he was in Amity, he felt compelled to protect his property and had subconscious connection to it. But his palace didn't feel like that. In a sense, if Pariah's Keep was _truly_ his now, then shouldn't it also feel like his lair?

"Yeah," he told Star, "kinda extravagant, right?"

Elliot huffed. "I've seen cooler mini golf castles." With his heightened emotional sensory, Danny felt Elliot's internal awe be pushed under a guise of nonchalance.

"Whatever you say," Danny responded coolly, leading them towards the castle's entrance. As they approached closer, skeletal members of the king's guard became visible in front of the main archway. And this point, Star and Elliot fell behind him, walking in his shadow. Clearly not wanting to draw attention to themselves in front of the spectral guards.

When the guards saw Danny, they momentarily abandoned their guarding stance and bowed in respect. He scowled. He hated when they did that regularly and it probably didn't look any better in front of two already suspicious classmates.

Danny put his hand out and dismissed them. They returned to their stance.

Elliot creeped from behind him, shooting Danny a look. "Do they uh, bow to everyone?"

Danny took a beat longer than he should have to reply, "... yes."

Star shuddered. "Creepy," she whispered.

One of the skeletal ghosts (Clerval, if Danny could remember correctly) stepped forward. "**My king**," he thankfully addressed in ghost speak. "**Why do you appear with human accomplices?**"

Right… Danny'd only brought Sam into the Ghost Zone before. Jazz had always found an excuse not to come, which was okay with him. He figured that the presence of two unidentified humans _would_ be concerning for a guard. Praying he used the correct dialect, Danny switched to ghost speak. "**They are with me. For today only, please notify other royal staff that I am not to be addressed as your king. I am incognito.**"

The ghost nodded, eyeing his other guards warily. "**Understood, my… Phantom?**"

Danny almost rolled his eyes. _Close enough_.

"Y - you _talked_ to that thing?" Star gasped. "How did you…?"

Elliot's eyes were also the size of saucers. "You can speak in ghost speak?"

Danny shifted uncomfortably. He forgot that speaking to ghosts was probably beyond Danny Fenton's supposed abilities. "Uh, yeah… I kinda just picked it up after a while? It gets under your skin." Not a complete lie. He developed the ability when millions of volts of electricity crawled under his skin, changing him from the inside out.

"That's freaky, dude," Elliot said. "Your voice sounds _totally _different. How-"

"I don't exactly know," Danny interrupted. "Okay? The king is probably waiting for us now, so let's go."

He dragged them into the castle, ignoring their consecutive rushes of fear. _Ancients_. They were really lucky that Danny only employed his royal staff with restrained ghosts, otherwise any hungry spirit wouldn't hesitate to feed on their negative emotions.

After about three minutes of trekking up some stairs, they reached the throne room. Inside, it was also red, but this red was much brighter than the castle's exterior. The ceilings were at least twenty feet tall, stretching into what appeared to be nothingness. Sourceless light illuminated the room, casting strange shadows onto nearby material objects.

More guards lined the walls, hovering idly. Their eyes traveled on Danny, sometimes flitting between him and his throne, odd looks of unease. He understood why; it's because the ghost that occupied his throne was certainly not him, and he was doing nothing about it. A buff, seven-foot-tall ghost with a potbelly lounged carelessly in Danny's custom-sculpted throne. He looked severly out of place considering his difference in stature from Danny; he was too big for the throne and was practically wedged into the chair.

Playing his role, Danny stopped several feet away from the ghost and bowed. This was an action that he observed often from his throne. "King Amorpho," he greeted. "I apologize for the intrusion."

"Oh, that's quite alright," Amorpho smiled slyly. "I'm a wonderful time here today and you've just made it much better, my loyal informant, Billy."

Struggling not to snort, Danny stood back up and straightened his back. He glanced at Star and whispered, "Inside joke."

"What is your purpose today?" Amorpho asked, maintaining his huge form and shifting his position on the throne. "Why do you bring two humans into my _very _powerful presence, given that I am the _one and only_ glorious Ghost King!"

"**Don't get too comfortable up there**," Danny quipped in ghost speak, hoping that Star nor Elliot would notice. Once Amorpho got the gist, Danny resumed their planned performance. "Oh, king. I have brought these two humans because they seek your assistance. They need to reverse a wish that Desiree has granted."

"A wish?" Amorpho asked, bringing his hand to his chin. He looked toward Star and Elliot. "Tell me, humans, why should I help you?"

They flustered under the pressure, but eventually Star managed to gain enough courage to respond. "Our wish erased someone we know from existence. And well, we didn't mean to do it."

"Basically," Danny sighed, providing a better explanation, "Desiree was meddling in the human world and managed to completely abort someone's soul from the timeline, which broke the seventh treaty of the Ancients, resulting in her second infraction under your rule."

Amorpho blinked stupidly, but continued. "Very well. Request granted. I will have someone fetch Desiree and bring her here for review."

"Thank you, my king," Danny amended. He elbowed Elliot in the ribs and he and Star echoed Danny's gratitude.

Now, the next part of the plan was going to be tricky. But Danny was prepared, all he had to do was focus on temporarily splitting his core and ensuring that his duplicate flew out of his body invisibly. He took a deep breath and…

"Now," Amorpho announced with false grandeur, "I summon my greatest fighter, Phantom, to act on my behalf and reprimand Desiree."

Just on time, Danny's duplicate appeared beside Amorpho. Danny noted that Phantom had the correct amount of limbs and was fully in ghost form, something that he often struggled with when he created duplicates. At Phantom's arrival, Star and Elliot gasped in surprise (along with a few of the guards across the room).

"My king," Phantom greeted. "I am to find Desiree?"

"Yes," Amorpho didn't waste any time with superfluous proceedings. "Bring her back here once you have her so she can reverse a wish."

"Yes, King Amorpho," Phantom nodded before vanishing from Pariah's Keep.

Danny sighed in relief. At least that part of their plan went okay, now they just had to wait for his duplicate to return with the culprit so she could reverse everything. Or, at least Danny thought. Not more then ten seconds later, Danny's ghost sense went off - which was odd since he was in the Ghost Zone. His ghost sense never went off in the Ghost Zone unless he subconsciously sensed someone threatening, which meant….

_Oh no._ Not _them_. This entire plan was about to go down the drain, he could tell. It was only a matter of time now. He glanced around the room, looking for someway he could remedy this entire situation before it got out of hand.

Beside him, Star noticed Danny's sudden panic. "Danny, wha-"

"They're here," Danny muttered, accepting that there was no escape. "_Shit_. It wasn't supposed to be _today_."

Elliot caught on that something was up. "What wasn't-?"

There was movement near the entrance to the throne room. Danny turned in fright, knowing exactly who was about to float through the archway; three slender, one-eyed blobs dressed in formal robes entered the king's court. _The head Observants_. They dropped in from time to time to give Danny some shitty commands (that he usually avoided) and to act as his advisors since they also guided Pariah Dark. They didn't really have any real authority over him, but they had enough influence over other parts of the Ghost Zone that he couldn't really ignore them altogether.

"Who's-"

The Observants addressed their attention to the throne, ignore the side chatter of Phantom's court. They hadn't noticed that their king was on the floor yet, but it didn't take them long to realize that the ghost sitting on Phantom's throne was not the king. _Oh Clockwork_, Danny realized, _Amorpho's going to be in so much trouble._

Amorpho's expression rivaled a deer in the headlights when the first Observant called out furiously, "Imposter!" and rallied his associates to shoot at the shapeshifter. Amorpho didn't have enough time to dodge, and was caught by one of the Observant's ectoblasts. The hit caused him to revert back into his default form: thin, grey, and faceless. Danny winced at the impact, while Star and Elliot gawked in terror at the 'Ghost King's' deflation in size.

The Observants surrounded Amorpho, who attempted to escape the three ghosts with no success. The second Observant growled, "Who _dares_ to sit upon the throne reserved only for the king!

The third Observant added, "Who dares to _impersonate_ the king!"

The first Observant ferociously threw himself forward and gripped Amorpho's face, staring down at him with his single, irritated eye. "We'll have you thrown into the eternal depths of Hades pocketed within Sector Eight for this blatant treachery, _filthy shapeshifter_."

Amorpho tried to protest, by the Observant's hold on his face prevented Amorpho from speaking. Danny had never seen a ghost use a silencing power before, but it was good to know that a power like that existed for the future.

"Disgusting traitor to the throne!" the third Observant spat.

Danny couldn't let this continue any longer. Amorpho was not in the wrong here, the Observants misunderstood. "Wait, _no_!" Danny cried. His voice echoed louder than any natural human's voice should echo, causing Star and Elliot to cover their ears. "I ordered him to! He did no treachery!"

Something, _Star_, gripped his arm tightly. "Danny," she hissed frantically, "what are you doing!?"

Elliot mumbled feverishly under his breath loud enough for Danny to hear him, "What's going on? Who're those cyclopes dudes?"

Danny hushed at them, turning to face the Observants instead. The Observants, in turn, were baffled, their jaws dropping open in shock. The first Observant, comprehending Danny's words, released Amorpho. Scrambling away from his captor, Amorpho quickly fled from the room, wasting no time escaping. _Coward_.

Once the Observants came to their senses, they all pushed themselves to the physical floor of the throne room, bowing at Danny's feet. "King Phantom," they spoke in unison.

With a nervous glance towards Star and Elliot, Danny coughed. "**Rise**," he switched to ghost speak. The Observants floated back into the air, looming about five feet over Danny.

"Explain this foolery," the first Observant reprimanded. "Why did you order a faceless wraith to take your place on the throne?"

The second Observant snarled, "Do you not take your job seriously?"

"And why do you assume your weak human form?" The third Observant spoke before Danny could even stop him.

"This is _unacceptable_!" the second Observant declared angrily.

Ignoring the two teenagers at his back, Danny growled. He was frustrated enough with these three and it wasn't the first time they had pulled something like this. "You have no place to tell _me_ how to do _my_ job," he pointed at them. They didn't flinch and met his accusation head-on. "Who do you three think you are? Barging in here and ordering me around?"

"Well," the first Observant challenged, "it certainly feels necessary when you let any desperate ghost sit on your throne!"

"That's not what I'm-" they cut Danny off.  
"Ancients... " The third Observant put a hand to his head in disbelief. "You're not even wearing your crown and ring?"

Danny tried again, "Yeah, because-!"

"King Phantom," the second Observant said gravely. "Are you neglecting the duties your swore to upholding during your coronation?"

"No, I-!"

"He most certainly is!" the third Observant continued to speak over him. "I knew we should've spent more time educating the half-human child!"

Danny's frustration caught in his throat, "You're not letting-!"

"If you won't take this seriously," the first Observant decided, "then we must take matters into our own hands."

He nearly screamed. "You don't even _have_ hands!"

As if they were one entity, the three Observants raised their hands together and stretched out towards Danny. Pink light engulfed them and suddenly he felt _wrong_. There was a tickle in his core as he felt the familiar tug of teleportation. Before he could attempt to fight against their forceful teleportation, the presence of his surroundings evaporated.

It didn't feel anything like individual teleportation; it was jarring and chaotic, he didn't have any control. And then, with a sharp jolt he appeared somewhere else, reentering reality. Disoriented, he surveyed his surroundings and almost had to clutch his head from the _hot_ pain. Someone somewhere screamed - _a girl_ \- and the pain and Danny's head gradually throbbed into a dull headache.

He was sitting on his throne. They had caused him to teleport onto his throne in front of Star and Elliot with no explanation. He saw that across his throne room, Star and Elliot were panicking, left stranded on the floor with Observants. Star was covering her mouth and shaking like a leaf and Elliot was frozen in place, paralyzed. "Fenton…?"

The Observants ignored the humans and turned to Danny knowingly, looking satisfied that he had taken his place on his throne. When the ghosts readverted their attention, Star and Elliot finally noticed that Danny had been transported onto the king's throne. He could sense their confusion and wanted nothing more than to slip into nothingness out of embarrassment, but he had to deal with the Observants first.

"Now, King Phantom," the first Observant spoke, "since you're so insistent on rebelling against your responsibilities, summon your crown and ring."

Danny stomped his foot down on his throne's platform, the impact resounding throughout the room. "  
"You're not letting me explain anything! I'm not rebelling and I don't need you three interfering with how _I_ do things." Their audacity was enough to send him over the edge and he felt his eyes burn cold with green. "Don't you _ever_ forcefully teleport me again. And get out of my throne room."

"We will not!" they spoke in unison. Danny's head itched with fury and he just wanted to rant at the Observants.  
_Why the hell not?_ Danny figured, _At this rate, Star and Elliot are already going to figure it out anyway, so I might as well give these one-eyed control freaks a piece of my mind._

Danny leaned forward in his throne. "_I_ am the king!" he seethed. "I've had enough of your accusations that I should be doing more! This is not your job, you don't have any authority over me!" Danny pondered what would scare them most, and grinned. "Now you will get your wet overly large eyeballs out of my face or I swear I'll cut the boundaries in your sector, again! "

The Observants gaped at Danny in terror, looking for any signs that he wasn't serious. Danny leaned back in his throne and gave them his best intimidating glare. He usually had trouble putting on a threatening face, but with what he had just said his lackluster scowl was enough to frighten the Observants. Star and Elliot didn't look _as_ scared as the Observants, but definitely disturbed… that wasn't going to be fun to resolve.

The Observants nodded timidly, "Yes, my king."

The second Observant nudged his companions and the three of them turned heel and fled from Pariah's Keep, not daring to further enrage the king. The throne room was still, even after they left. Neither Star nor Elliot dared to speak, regarding Danny with horror. Danny couldn't think of what to do either and sat rigidly in his throne. He couldn't tell if he was doing it or not, but suddenly the entire room felt colder.

"So…" Star broke the ice. "You _are_ the Ghost King?"

He hoped his duplicate would return with Desiree soon, because even though it was an awful idea, a wish _really_ sounded like a good solution right now. He had no clue how else he was going to get out of this one.


	5. Only Time Will Tell

**Day Five: Second Gen**

**Word Count: 2140**

**Genre: Family**

* * *

"Pst, Uncle Tucker! You got a minute?" James Fenton popped into existence three feet from Tucker's face, startling the elder man and prompting him to reach for his ghost weapon. By the time that James registered as 'not a threat' in his brain, the eleven-year-old halfa had already retreated to the other side of Tucker's living room.

"Wow… shoot me, why don't you?" James pouted, landing firmly on Tucker's maroon carpet. Some of his white hair fell into his face and he tried to blow it away, eventually giving up and brushing it to the side with his hand.

"I'm sorry," Tucker apologized, quickly pocketing the ectogun. He patted the seat on the couch next to him, inviting his guest to sit. "You startled me. Your dad usually at least _knocks_."

James stretched his arms out and casually changed from his ghost form back into his human form. Tucker was taken aback to see that he was wearing Spiderman pajamas, which made him realize exactly how late James was visiting him. With a quick glance at his smart-watch, he observed that it was well past 11pm. The fact that James had came here in his ghost form also wasn't a good sign….

"Let me guess," James cracked a lopsided grin, plopping onto the couch, "you tried to kill him, too?"

"Oh _no_," Tucker joked, "you figured out my dirty secret! I've gained your family's trust for years just so I can assassinate the great Danny Phantom. And now my plans are in _shambles_-"

"You're a dork, Uncle Tuck," James poked his arm, trying not to laugh.

Tucker raised a brow, "Says the nerd in Spiderman PJs."

"I'm eleven," James defended. "Spiderman PJs are still okay."

"Hmmm, whatever you say," Tucker shrugged. "Why are you visiting me at eleven o'clock in your PJs anyway? You know that when you sneak out, it's _probably_ not the best idea to visit your parents' best friend if you plan to get away with it."

James froze. "You're going to tell Mom and Dad?"

"Well, seeing that you snuck out of the house, flew here despite your unstable powers, and could've been caught by ghost hunters I think that's enough to warrant telling your parents. What I'm saying is that wasn't exactly the _safest_ thing you could do."

"I'm perfectly capable of avoiding ghost hunters!" James protested. "And my powers aren't _that _unstable. My core's almost matured-"

"We're not arguing about this, kid," Tucker shut him down. "But while you're here, we might as well talk about whatever thing you wanted to see me about."

"How'd you know that I wanted to talk to you about something specific?" James asked, looking almost disappointed.

"I'm just psychic," Tucker laughed. "I can read your mind."

James scoffed, "Yeah, _sure_." He looked down and picked at some of the fibers of the couch. Tucker remained patient and gave James some time. After a few moments, James exhaled slowly.

"I couldn't sleep," he admitted quietly. "I just… couldn't get my mind to shut up and I had to talk to someone. Someone that wasn't Mom or Dad - or Lilith…."

Tucker nodded, staying neutral. "What's on your mind, then?"

James bit his lip. "I overheard something I wasn't supposed to hear. I don't know how to process it or - or even _ask_. That, and how can I admit to Mom and Dad that I was eavesdropping?"

_Oh_. So this was a tough one. Tucker could think of plenty of things that Sam and Danny kept from their kids that would definitely disturb anyone who wasn't ready to hear it. They weren't all necessarily bad things, just… _difficult_. Suddenly, Tucker was glad that he and his fiance weren't planning on having children.

"If you tell me what it was, then maybe I can help you put these thoughts to rest?" Tucker offered.

James clenched his fists, "Am I going to die? Like… _ever_?" he asked hopelessly. "Mom and Dad… they realized that Dad hasn't aged in like _nine_ years. From what they were saying, they kinda figured out that he's immortal? And if Dad can't ever die or age… what about me and Lilith? Am I going to stop aging in my twenties like Dad did?"

_Abort abort abort_. Whatever Tucker had been expecting, it hadn't been _that_. He'd figured it out two years ago that Danny hadn't been aging since around his tenth deathday. Yet, he hadn't said anything because he assumed that either Danny already knew or if he didn't know, Tucker telling him would severely stress him out. And now James knew. An eleven year old child, questioning his own mortality. This was far too young for anyone to learn that they might never grow up, to be burdened with eons ahead. Or at the least, to know that their father will outlive them - stuck forever as a twenty-four year old.

"_That's_," Tucker inhaled, "that's a lot, James. Wow… that's just, um, a lot to think about for someone your age."

"Living forever doesn't seem so bad, but will I have to watch Mom die? You die? And then there's the chance that I'm _not_ immortal since I'm only partially a halfa. And what if Dad _can_ still die but can't age, how would we know until he dies? There's just so much I don't know and need to know and… it's just… _too much_." James ran his hands through his hair stressfully.

Tucker cringed with sympathy. This was still just a kid; anything he said he could have a lasting impact on James. He had to be especially careful to say the right thing.

"Those are only things we'll know when the time comes, James," Tucker explained. "So far all we _do_ know is that your dad stopped aging. We don't know for sure that he can't die, even if evidence suggests it. We can't even be sure that you'll be the same. And it's that kind of uncertainty that's getting on your nerves, right?"

"Yeah…" James nodded.

"Well," Tucker leaned in, "let me let you in on a little secret. Everyone, even us normal adults, fear not knowing. There's no telling what life will throw at you, and even when you don't know what's going to happen next, you have to stay flexible."

James's eyes were wide with comprehension. Sensing the kid's anxiety, Tucker comfortingly placed a hand on James's shoulder.

"I _know_ that not knowing what's going to happen is terrifying," Tucker continued, "but if there's nothing you can currently do, you just have to accept that it's something you'll have to deal with in the future, not now. That acceptance takes practice and won't come immediately, but it's the plainest way you can get there."

"But… _how_ exactly do I do that?" James asked desperately. "Like it makes sense, but I just don't…" he groaned, " I don't understand how to make that work for _me_. How do I get rid of all these scary thoughts about it?"

Tucker sighed. How should he put this? It wasn't exactly the easiest thing to explain to anyone…. Not to mention that James's scenario was much more complicated than anything Tucker had to personally face. But… maybe he could recycle some of his own experiences to use as an example? It wouldn't be the same, but it could help James understand more.

"How about I tell you about the time I had to deal with not knowing if I passed the SAT?" Tucker offered. "It's the same principle of what you're facing, even if it's a lot less… _severe_."

"Uh, alright?" James glanced around awkwardly.

Tucker nodded. "I was about seventeen and was starting to apply for colleges. The school I _really _wanted to go to - MIT - only accepted 8% of applicants. You also had to have at least a certain SAT score for them to even _consider_ you. At the time, I was mainly helping your parents hunt down ghosts, so I didn't even have that many other extracurriculars that I could use to make myself look better. Since I wasn't the best student, I figured that my best shot at getting into MIT would be to do _really_ good on the SAT.

"I worked my a - _butt _off to get a good score. And then, I took the test. And you know what happened then?"

"What?" James wondered.

"I had to wait. And it was the most God awful three weeks of waiting in my _life_."

"It took three weeks for someone to grade a test?" James asked in disbelief. "It only takes my teachers like… two days!"

"Well, you're in fifth grade," Tucker pointed out. "This is a test that students all over the country take. That's a lot of tests to go through, isn't it?"

"You have a point," James admitted. "So why were those three weeks so bad?"

"Because I didn't know what was going to happen. The application deadline for MIT was getting closer and closer and I still didn't know if my scores were good enough to get it. MIT was my _dream school_. When I was in highschool, I didn't see the point of living if I didn't get in! It meant everything to me that I went to MIT, got my degree, and became the next Steve Jobs-"

"Who?" James tilted his head.

_Kids these days…_ "That doesn't matter," Tucker dismissed. "I was afraid, so afraid of what would happen if I got a bad score and my impatience was tearing me apart. Does that sound even a bit familiar?" James didn't respond. He looked blankly at Tucker, so Tucker elaborated. "You're scared of the future and you're so impatient that you just want to know _now_, even though you can't do anything."

James gulped. "So how did you deal with it? Did you just wait the entire three weeks?"

"If I did, there wouldn't be a lesson in telling you this," Tucker reassured. "For the first week, I basically shut down and fell apart because of stress. Your parents eventually noticed how I felt and dragged me out to the Nasty Burger for a talk.

"They helped me realize that it was okay to anticipate both outcomes, that if I didn't get into MIT it wasn't going to be the end of the world. There were still other colleges, and if I did get into MIT - then all that worrying would be for nothing! So when you're afraid of not knowing something, you just gotta embrace looking at the bright side of every scenario."

"And you didn't get into MIT, did you?" James put together. "Your scores weren't good enough, and instead you ended up going to APU with Mom and Dad."

"Yeah, and I was crushed that I didn't get in," Tucker explained. "But because I had looked on the bright side, I was able to pick myself back up. And you know what? It might've been the best thing that happened to me, because guess who I met at APU?" he wiggled his eyebrows. "The _love of my life_-"

"_Eww_, stop being a cheesy old person, Uncle Tuck!"

"Cheesy old people are going to be cheesy old people," Tucker shrugged. "So does that help you put things into perspective a bit more?"

"A bit," James nodded. He hesitated for a moment, "Man, I'm glad I came to you instead of Skyping Aunt Jazz."

Tucker snorted. "Yeah… you definitely dodged a bullet _there_. Even though now you're probably gonna get in trouble for sneaking out."

"Not if they don't find out?" James attempted weakly.

"Trust me kid," Tucker laughed, "I gotta help your parents keep you out of trouble. I know it doesn't make me the 'coolest' uncle, but I'm telling your parents."

"But - but that's not fair!" James protested. "I had a reason to visit you! I couldn't sleep! But I can't tell Mom and Dad about that, so what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't see why you _can't_ just tell them the truth," Tucker said.

"Because I don't want to admit that I know about Dad being immortal! A, that's awkward! B, I don't want to admit that I was eavesdropping!"

Tucker playfully ruffled James hair, "Hey, it might not be fun, but look at it this way; if you're already getting in trouble for sneaking out, admitting you eavesdropped shouldn't be that much more trouble. Right?"

James figuratively deflated in his seat. "_Fine_," he mumbled. "I'll do the 'right thing'."

"Good," Tucker said, reaching for his phone. "And because of that, I'll call your Dad to pick you up instead of Sam. You don't deserve her wrath tonight."

"Really?" James brightened. "_Thank Clockwork_. Mom does not know how to chill."

"You think I don't know?" Tucker held his phone up to his ear, calling Danny. "_She's_ scarier than not getting into MIT."


	6. Black Hole Sun

**Day Seven/Nine: Solar/World Building**

**Word Count: 1950**

**Genre: Sci-Fi/Supernatural**

* * *

_The sun in my disgrace_

_Boiling heat, summer stench_

_'Neath the black the sky looks dead_

"Reality's a funny thing, Danno," Jack said, facing to turn to his array of chalkboards in the lab. Grainy equations and conceptual drawings overlapped on the surface of the board. "There's more than one reality, for one."

Danny rolled his eyes idly, "Yeah, sure Dad. I've only heard this a bajillion times."

"Well, I'd better tell it again," his father grabbed another stick of chalk, drawing over a sequence of numbers. "We're close this time, so _close_! You see, most people think of reality as just everything in our world, including space. But there are infinite versions of space, different realities all stacked up against each other."

"You mean like… parallel dimensions?"

"Some… aren't so parallel. But that's the right idea! These realities are compact, some pressing against each other enough to create miniscule, very granule points of convergence! Holes, doorways between realities! And that's what this portal is for, we're going to crack the code and force a doorway open into the ghost reality, well the Ghost _Zone_."

Danny liked to entertain the ideas of sci-fi, but unlike his father, he was able to differentiate the line between science and fiction. Multiple realities? That wasn't so far-fetched, sure. But a _ghost_ reality? It was just all a super developed delusion and a waste of his mom's PhD. Of course, he couldn't say this to his dad, so he decided to play along.

"But isn't that like super dangerous? What if you tear fabric of reality or something just trying to make a hole?"

"That's why it's taken so many years to build this portal. The actual building part is easy, the hard part was perfecting how not to tear reality! But after all these years, your Mom and I are almost absolutely sure that the portal will make a clean puncture between our worlds. Then we'll be able to study ghosts!"

Danny sighed. _More about ghosts… yay. _

"You know what?" Danny challenged, "How did the ghosts even get into that other reality anyway if they're from _our _dimension?"

Jack's eyes lit up. "The afterlife of course. Whichever afterlife there is! Mads thinks it's heaven, but I'm more agnostic, there's so many possibilities - I can't just pursue one! They all sort of make sense."

Danny only had a vague Christian upbringing, but never went to church except for Easter. Before his dad mentioned it, he sort of just thought his parents were atheists or something. Danny kind of had the same view as his dad; he didn't know what to believe.

"The afterlife is different than our reality and the ghost reality, but it's also it's own reality. When someone dies here, their spirit, essence, soul - whatever you call it - gets pulled into the afterlife reality! But sometimes, if that soul has a really traumatic death, the emotional dissonance within one's soul can disturb their soul enough to get sucked into the ghost reality."

"That's a little confusing," Danny huffed.

"Not really! At this point, we just need to add a few more things on the inside of the portal and it'll be all done! Then you'll get to see what the other side is like, Danno… the other side…."

* * *

Days later, when he pressed the button to the portal, this conversation was far from his mind, Danny did see the other side. He was stretched between two realities, and one reality made its permanent home in him.

* * *

Exploring the Ghost Zone was always a surreal activity, but this time felt different. He'd been Phantom for a few years now, facing no qualms about wandering around in this strange reality. The inhabitants of the Ghost Zone knew him too now, the infamous halfa, and most kept their fair distance. So it was a little difficult to notice whenever he found a part of the Ghost Zone that was actually unoccupied by any other ghosts. Sure, the entire Zone was usually a barren scape of ectoplasm and darkness, but there was never anywhere that was devoid of the occasional lair or so.

Even though this was probably a good signal that he should turn around, Danny continued onwards, delving deeper into the darkness of the zone. Even the usual ambient ectoplasm swirls were absent here; Danny's interest was piqued to say the least. What could he say? He'd done all of his homework this weekend, he didn't have much else to do….

This part of the Ghost Zone was probably the darkest place he'd ever seen. The only thing he had for guidance was his own ghostly glow, but there was nothing for his light to even reflect off of. If he hadn't learned how to teleport recently, he might've been panicked, but Danny wasn't worried. He had an escape route if he _did _get lost in this abyss.

Actually, this place almost reminded him of outer space. This was sort of cool in a weird way.

Just for kicks, Danny let out his ghostly wail just because he knew that it wouldn't hit anything. The green soundwaves rippled and dissipated without touching anything. That'd never happened before so that was also sort of interesting.

Somewhere about three-hundred miles into the darkness (his top speed was 200mph), the blackness started to fade into crimson. At first thought he thought his eyes were just seeing things since Sam told him recently that if you put a person in darkness for a long time, they'll start to hallucinate because their brain hates to be deprived of sensation. But the redness became more and more prominent, and suddenly it was like he was floating in a blood red sphere.

_This really was weird_.

Red wasn't something you typically saw in the Ghost Zone. Green and purple were the primary colors in Ghost Zone, with occasional blues and orange. But never _red_. Whatever was residing here in this part of the Zone was probably really powerful… and Danny didn't know if he should take that as a warning sign to just jet out of there. But he kept going, after all, he'd come all this way - he might as well see what's over here.

There was a pinprick in the distance. Immense waves of heat radiated from the source of light, and Danny recoiled; heat was also something scarce in this reality. He felt something familiar nagging at him, like he should know what this was. And as he stared into the abysmal space, he realized that the distant object, a bright mass of red energy… reminded him of a _star_. But how could a star of all things be in the Ghost Zone?

He remembered long ago in the lab, when his dad had lectured him about puncturing other realities, that Dad had mentioned something about 'infinite versions of space'. Was it possible that he'd drifted out of the Ghost Zone and into this reality's outer space? Or was this star a part of the Ghost Zone, a stellar object slap dab in the middle of the zone?

"It's not a star," a voice informed him. Danny flinched, lighting his fists defensively with ectoplasmic energy. A child, no, _Clockwork_ greeted him. Danny was almost tempted to fire a shot at the time ghost for startling him.

"Then what is it?" Danny asked. Clockwork spontaneously appeared at random intervals, so Danny didn't even question his appearance at this point.

"It's the remnants of a star. Mere embers of the red giant it used to be before collapsing. Not even embers at all, just a _speck_." The time ghost mused about the star with a sheen of sadness in his glassy eyes.

Danny shook his head. As a certified astronomy nerd, he knew enough about the collapsing of stars to find the logical errors in Clockwork's statement. "That's not how stars work. The don't leave behind remnants like _that_."

"And how would you know that they don't?" Clockwork asked calmly, shifting into his adult form.

"Because when stars collapse, they either leave behind a white dwarf or a nebula star; that's something else."

"Yes, those are two things that can happen when stars die… but there's another outcome too." Clockwork patiently gestured for Danny to guess what he was talking about.

"You mean a black hole? That's uh - not a black hole."

"Possibly."

"No, I mean if that were a black hole, we'd be sucked inside right now, time practically nonexistent at the event horizon, and we'd be spaghettified upon being pulled inside." Danny shrugged, "And that's just basic middle school physics."

"Sure, that's true for what happens when you enter a black hole," Clockwork grinned. "But what if you're already in one?"

"Dude," Danny sighed, "you're going to have to start making more sense. What are you talking about us being inside a _black hole_?"

At this point in their friendship Danny had realized Clockwork had a weird sense of humor, but Danny legitimately couldn't tell if Clockwork was pulling a prank on him or not.

"This space here," Clockwork gestured around them, "is the same space that surrounds Earth in your reality. In _this _reality, there is a black hole in this exact spot _instead_ of Earth. Are you with me?" Clockwork accessed.

"Nope," Danny answers. "I get that in another reality, a black hole could exist where Earth is. I just don't understand how we are _in _a black hole, when supposedly nothing (I doubt even ghosts) can survive the tidal forces of twisting spacetime fabric."

Clockwork shifted into his old man form. "Within a black hole, there is supposedly something called a singularity, which is what all the matter in a black hole gets crushed into; a point of infinite density at the center of the black hole where the laws of physics don't apply. Those forces are only lethal _outside_ the singularity. There is infinite yet finite space within the singularity, a closed off _zone_ of unnatural physics and occurrences…" he paused for dramatic effect. "The Ghost Zone: a zone constructed by a collapsing star. "

Danny had to think hard about what Clockwork was proposing to him. "So the entire Ghost Zone is like a bubbled area within a black hole?" Oh man, that was so _weird_. A little terrifying. And a bit awesome? He _was _an astronomy geek, after all.

"In simple terms, yes," Clockwork confirmed.

"And that's... That's all that's left of the star's core within this black hole?" Danny turned back to the star, humming with solar energy from afar. _A star on its deathbed._

"Almost beautiful in a morbid way, isn't it?" Clockwork asked.

"I… suppose so," Danny admitted, admiring the stellar object's ethereal red glow. He turned back to Clockwork, "All this time… I just thought the Ghost Zone was an entire reality full of ghosts and nothing else. I hadn't realized that it really _was_ just a small zone within a larger reality, that outside of this black hole could exist so many different worlds. Possibly even _aliens_."

Clockwork snorted, "I wouldn't know about that. I'm the ghost of time, but I can't see beyond of here and Earth. Maybe, though."

They watched the fallen star for a few more moments before teleporting back to Clockwork's tower, discussing more intricate physics regarding the Ghost Zone. Danny was all too eager to learn about how the Ghost Zone existed in regard to the rest of space. Who knew that the Ghost Zone was _much_ more impossible than just a reality of ghosts on the other side of his parents' portal?

_Black hole sun, won't you come_

_And wash away the rain?_

_Black hole sun, won't you come?_

_Won't you come?_

* * *

**! I wrote this days before the black hole picture was released online, not even knowing it was scheduled to be released. Rereading this I'm actually tripped out mainly because of my appreciation for that picture 3. **

**Anyway, the song that inspired this concept was ****_Black Hole Sun_**** by Soundgarden.**


	7. Sisters

**Day Eight: Sisters**

**Word Count: 7636**

**Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family**

* * *

After years of routine, Alicia figured that her body's natural clock was much more reliable than her alarm clock. She rose when the sun rose and often found herself opening the door for her three little rascals (Meryl, Mercury, and Casey) by 7am. The three dogs ran out into the yard, heeding Alicia's non-verbal warnings to not wander off. Satisfied, she let her dogs run wild for a few minutes while she tended to her vegetable garden. She usually didn't work on her garden until later in the day, but lately some kind of critter had been eating her tomatoes at night. She suspected it was a raccoon, but until she knew exactly what was eating her plants, she wasn't going to take action.

Alicia ushered her dogs back into her house, spitting light-hearted insults until they placated enough to obey her. She poured them their usual breakfast (two-thirds dry food, one-third wet food) and ensured that everyone sticked to their own portion. Mercury had a nasty habit of stealing Meryl and Casey's meals behind Alicia's back.

Once she was sure that all her dogs were in line, Alicia began cooking her own breakfast. Today she felt like having cheese grits, but she wasn't sure how Danny would feel about that. Maddie never liked grits as a child, so Alicia decided to play it safe and just scramble some eggs instead. By the time that she had the eggs cooking, it was almost 7:30. Making sure that they wouldn't burn, Alicia left the eggs on the stove and proceeded down the hall to her guest bedroom.

She knocked lightly on the door, ensuring that she wasn't barging in. When Danny didn't reply, she cracked open the door and found her nephew lying exactly where he had been at 3am last night. She'd woken up for a glass of water and was paranoid that he'd run off into the woods like he'd done during the first night. Since then, she'd made sure that Danny understood he had a curfew and couldn't just traipse into the night whenever he felt like it.

She crossed his room (which was bare with the exception of her mother's antique armoire) and stood over his bed. He was laying on his side, his black hair swept messily over his face, almost masking the tiny red scars that now lined his jaw. Alicia had learned quickly that Danny was a heavy sleeper, so without any restraint, she started prodding his less injured arm.

"Danny," she spoke softly. "Danny it's time to wake up."

He groaned incoherently and tried to shove her away, so she backed off for a moment. Maddie had advised that physically crowding Danny was a bad idea….

"I've almost got breakfast done," Alicia told him, as he slowly blinked sleep out of his eyes. "Scrambled eggs are alright, right?"

"S'long they're not contaminated," he replied wearily, curling more into his sheets.

"Okay. You can get up now, I assume? If I go back to the kitchen you won't go back to sleep?" she clarified.

"Hunnhh, _yeah_," he nodded. "Awake now."

"Good," Alicia said. "It'll be about five minutes."

He didn't respond so she left his room and returned to the stove. She made sure that the eggs weren't burning and decided to put on some bacon for good measure. That boy definitely needed his protein. And speaking of what he needed….

Alicia crossed the room and found the shoebox she stored her own medication in. There, she found a plain white bottle with 'DANNY ONLY' written in black Sharpie. She popped out two green pills and pocketed them. It was risking keeping Danny's medication with her own, but Maddie had also suggested that she put it somewhere where Danny wouldn't find it. Just in case he decided to throw out the bottle. Her niece Jazz confirmed that was something that Danny might do.

She put her shoebox back on a shelf in the living room and returned to finally plate up their breakfast. By the time that she placed breakfast on the table, Danny had managed to drag himself out of bed and onto his feet. She was a little proud of him, since he hadn't been able to do that yesterday. Today he was wearing a plain, grey, cotton t-shirt with black sweats. She knew that he preferred jeans to sweatpants, but because of his remaining injuries, he was advised to wear looser clothing.

Danny sat in the chair opposite of her, looking anywhere but the plate of food in front of him. Routinely, Alicia slipped the pills out of her pocket and placed them in front of him. He seemed to sag with disappointment, but compliantly swallowed the pills anyway.

Alicia was glad that he didn't fight her about that. He'd made his discomfort about the medication plain and simple, but he never outright refused to take them. Maddie had stressed the importance of Danny's medication, how she'd manufactured it specifically to his 'unique physiology' so he could heal thoroughly. Even though Danny also understood that, he never seemed pleased that he was getting better.

They were ready to eat now, but Alicia still had one more ritual to do before digging in. As a firm Christian, she always prayed before she ate. She said her prayer and gestured Danny to join her in eating.

Danny took a few moments to start, eyeing the eggs distrustfully, but eventually followed Alicia and started eating his meal. He had only been with her for four days now, but she could already tell that being with her was helping his health. He was more round-faced now, unlike when Maddie and Jazz had first dropped him off; gaunt and pale, staring intently at some imaginary point on the horizon.

At the time, Jazz had pulled Alicia to the side and informed her that it would be best if she didn't give Danny a choice to eat. Danny would avoid meals unless someone deliberately coerced him into eating. When he was at home, neither of his parents wanted to overstep, so that left him missing a lot of meals.

"It's just… hard for us to interact with him," Jazz looked down. "Mom and Dad know what happened was their fault, and they don't want to trigger him any more. And I can only do so much…. That's why I think this is so important for him to stay with you. It means a lot to me, and Mom, that you're letting him stay with you after… _you know_."

Alicia did know: _after the vivisection_.

Maddie's first phone call had sent Alicia into a severe panic. Her claims of experimenting on her son - who didn't look like her son - were absolutely _wild_. Incomprensible. It had taken many more conversations for Alicia to understand the entire situation. Even then… she still didn't fully understand what Danny's supposed duality entailed. How her sister could just mistake her child for an otherworldly entity. But Alicia kept an open mind, a forgiving mind. Because after all, she would do anything for her sister. And if it meant letting her traumatized nephew stay with her for a few weeks, Alicia would do that.

The first day he stayed with her was overshadowed by a general air of discomfort. Alicia didn't know what she had been expecting. Maddie always spoke about how ghosts were unfeeling, shallow imitations of human behavior. Given his… _condition…_ Alicia's assumption was that he would be inhuman and cold. Danny, despite being a partial-ghost was worse than she expected. Rather than inhuman, he was seemingly normal. He behavior and expressions were human, just… traumatized. _Broken_.

He was still the little kid she had babysitted during the holidays: his father's dark hair and blue eyes; his mother's complexion, nose, and cheekbones. The child who sat captivated in front of the television, squealing in excitement at space documentaries. On Christmas morning, he was pensive, attempting to be excited but unable to feel joy because of his parents' ongoing argument. She took him up to his bedroom and showed him how to play Blackjack with some of his new 'galaxy' playing cards.

He was still the little boy that she had taught to catch lightning bugs with his sister the next summer. Unlike Jazz, he was the one who cried in the morning when the luminescent bugs had suffocated in the mason jar. She had promised him that next time they would punch enough holes in the lid so that the bugs would live all night. That had been years ago, one of the only times that they visited her; there was no next time.

As a result of his trauma, Danny's interactions with Alicia were limited. He never spoke much and seemed to get startled easily. One time, when Alicia had walked into the living room, she saw him jump for a moment. She was several feet away from him, but she swore he mumbled "not Mom" under his breath. Alicia couldn't help but wince out of sympathy.

Still, it had only been four days, but was improving. She had gotten him to eat, so that was something at least. It was only a matter of time that he regained some trust in the people around him….

Alicia put her fork down. Danny was focusing on his food, intently making effort to swallow the eggs. Well, now was a good time as ever to talk to him….

"I was thinking of going into town today," Alicia announced. "I need to restock on groceries, just the simple stuff. I'd like if you'd come with me and pick out some snacks you like."

He slowly looked up from his plate and met eye-contact with Alicia. His eyes were guarded, yet she could still sense some emotion lurking underneath his facade.

"Okay. That's fine," he responded almost robotically.

Danny returned to his battle with his breakfast, emphasizing each bite, and Alicia nearly groaned. Hopefully gradual reintroduction into society would benefit him.

* * *

The town was a twenty minute drive from Alicia's house. It wasn't much, just a small community of about a hundred residents with a few shops and a single school. Alicia asked what music Danny wanted to listen to in the car and he'd just shrugged, "Anything but country music."

The drive was silent except for the soft melody of pop music.

The local grocery store was empty save for its employees: the cashier, the grocery clerk, and the attendant from the joint butchery. It was a tedious trip. Alicia pushed the cart and occasionally had Danny reach for items that were on shelves too high for her to reach. By the end of their trip, they had amassed milk, eggs, bread, breakfast items, sandwich ingredients, and ample snacks for Danny. Alicia had also seen him eyeing some astronaut stickers so she snuck those in the cart as a surprise.

Just before they headed over to checkout, Alicia remembered she needed to buy get some fresh meat for dinner. She also considered buying some scraps for the dogs; she did that every once in a while as a treat. So she directed the cart with Danny in tow towards the butcher without sparing a second thought.

"Whaddya need today, Miss 'Licia?" Mr. Davis asked. "I got some half-pound steaks in'tha back. Fresher than these ones 'ere on display."

"That'd be nice," she smiled. She turned to Danny, "You're okay with steaks, right hon?"

Danny didn't answer. Instead, he stood completely stiff, zoning out at the cutlets of meat on display. She nudged him, but he was completely unresponsive. It didn't take her long to figure out that there was something wrong, that something had triggered him. But what would…? _The meat_. Something about the sight of the meat had upset him; the slaughtered slabs of animal flesh displayed like morbid souvenirs.

Ignoring Mr. Davis's odd look, she stood in front of Danny, blocking his view. "Danny," she repeated. "Do you want to go wait for me at the register?" she asked softly.

Recognition graced Danny's eyes and he shook his head, clearing whatever intrusive thoughts had latched onto his consciousness. "I uh-" he frowned, focusing on the floor checkered with white and blue tiles, "-it was the smell. Reminded me of… of when..."

"I know." She was tempted to put a hand on his shoulder but refrained from making physical contact with him - that would only trigger him more. "Wait by the gumball machine by the door and I'll be there in a moment."

He nodded before walking away. Alicia noticed that when he walked, he only stepped on the blue tiles.

"What wassat about?" Mr. Davis asked, once Danny was out of earshot. "I know you ain't got no kids."

"That's my nephew," she replied. "He's staying with me for a few weeks for personal reasons. The sight of meat makes him a bit sick - I happened to forget."

Mr. Davis smiled. He only broke character when Alicia wasn't looking, cautiously eyeing the frail boy staring at the broken gumball machine.

* * *

Alicia hadn't felt up to preparing steaks for dinner that same night, so instead she cooked she and Danny grilled cheese sandwiches. She hadn't had grilled cheese in quite a while, but Maddie had told her over the phone a while back that it was one of Danny's comfort foods. She had to admit, it tasted better than she remembered.

That night, Danny went to his room at about seven o'clock. She stayed in the living room flipping between the news and PBS (she didn't pay for cable) until about eleven. On her way to bed, she nearly tripped over a warm mass of fur in the dark. Once she realized which dog had almost caused her to collide with the wall, she knit her eyebrows in frustrated. "_Mercy_," she hissed. He was a mischievous bastard, always getting under her feet. "You Goddamned _idiot_."

Mercury stared blankly at her, his thick brown fur masking most of his brown eyes. He sat perfectly still in front of Danny's bedroom door, silenting conveying his want. Alicia's anger dissolved; Mercury wanted to be with Danny?

She had no idea what time Danny usually went to sleep. She knew that he was usually asleep sometime between 10pm and 3am, but she didn't know precisely when. The lights in his room were off, but that wasn't a foolproof indicator that he had went to bed yet. Carefully, she drew open the door, blocking Mercury with her legs so he wouldn't jump onto Danny's bed.

There was a dim green light in Danny's room, casting eerie shadows on the walls. Alicia didn't recall Danny having any sort of flashlight, until she saw the source of the weird light. Danny was sitting up in his bed with a book in his lap. Two lamps of green light inhabited his eyes where his pupils should be, completely illuminating his face in a ghastly manner.

For a moment, Alicia almost considered screaming. Until she remembered that this was normal, well, normal for Danny. This was the first significant indication, other than his skittish behavior, that Danny was something truly… not human. Well, more accurately, 'human plus some'. It was so easy to ignore that Danny had some sort of ghostly nature about him. But this was undeniable, this was something that Alicia couldn't erase from her mind. It wasn't necessarily even scary, just… unexpected. Unnerving.

Alicia retreated back into the hallway. Clearing her mind and her resolve, this time she knocked on Danny's door. She could hear the sound of pages fluttering as Danny clamored to put his book away. Then, a lamp turned on. "Come in," he said.

She opened the door, and this time she didn't hold Mercury back. The scruffy dog cantered past Alicia and eagerly propelled himself onto Danny's bed. Danny flinched back in momentary alarm before realizing that it was just Mercury. He calmed for a moment and reached out to pet the dog's mangled fur. Mercury relaxed into Danny's strokes and plopped down onto his belly.

"He's been hanging outside of your room," Alicia explained, smiling at the sight. "I think he wants to be in here with you. Are you okay with that, or you'd rather me keep him in my room?"

Danny looked at the dog carefully, reaching his hand out again to ensure that Mercury wouldn't turn on him and bite him. Mercury just drooled happily and wagged his tail. "He can stay," Danny decided.

When she left his room, he turned off the lamp again. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw another glint of green, but this time she ignored it. It wouldn't do dwell on things that were irrelevant in the long run.

* * *

A few days later, Alicia found that she had neglected her usual lawn care routine and had allowed her yard to become overgrown. She figured that having Danny help her a bit with pulling the weeds and mowing the lawn might help get him more engaged in things. After all, if his injuries were to heal, a little physical activity would help put him back in motion.

"I think I can handle the lawn mower," Alicia said. "It's the riding kinda mower. I got it as a gift about six years ago from your parents. I don't feel comfortable letting you operate it because I've known some of my friends' kids that've used them and had'm topple over on them, pinning them to the ground."

"You know that I've done much more dangerous things than drive a mower, right?" Danny crossed his arms.

He was much more talkative today since Alicia hadn't given him a choice with helping out. Most days he was silent because she just let him do what he wanted. But not today. It was almost like she was seeing the old side of Danny, before the incident. The same snarky teenager that Maddie would tell her about whenever they got the chance to speak.

"Still, don't wanna take the risk, 'Mr. Danger'," she air quoted.

"Fine," Danny tsked. "What can I do?"

"You can do the weed wacker. It's not that difficult to use," she pointed to the tool she'd pulled out of her shed minutes earlier. "You just hold it away from you and use it to trim the parts of the grass that the mower misses. I got some glasses you can put on in case any rocks come flying up at your face."

"Nah, I'll be fine," Danny dismissed.

"I'd rather you put on some protective eyewear, though," Alicia tried.

Danny shrugged. "I'll be fine," he repeated.

Alicia didn't want to let him work without glasses, but she wasn't in the mood to argue with him. So, against her better judgement, she went ahead and started to demonstrate how to operate the weed wacker. He seemed to get the general gist of it and didn't indicate any problems… until Alicia made him turn it on.

It was positioned on the ground at a safe angle, so Danny bent down and pressed the trigger. Moments later, the machine successfully whirred to life. The sounds it emitted were low and guttural, like a caged animal growling. The tool itself vibrated angrily, startling Danny for a moment.

"You alright?" Alicia checked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Just took me off guard."

"Good, so next you're gonna wanna hold it parallel to the ground, gripping the handle about at the same height as your waist."

Danny did as she told him with ease. "This isn't as hard as using the Fenton Bazooka," he commented.

Alicia raised a brow, "The _what_?"

Danny looked around nervously, appearing trapped for a moment. "Uh - Mom's ghost bazooka thing. It's really heavy."

She was taken aback for a moment; this was one of the first times that Danny had mentioned his parents or ghosts since he'd arrived Alicia's.

"So if you've handled that, meer garden equipment is nothing to you, huh?" she teased, trying to show him that she was comfortable with it. If she acted like it wasn't a big deal, maybe he'd open up and stop treating it like it was. Instead, her joking elicited the opposite reaction she'd hoped for.

His voice was rough like sandpaper, forced, "_Yeah_."

Alicia bit her lip. _Whoops_. She hadn't intended to make it more awkward. Now was a good time to drop the subject and step far, far away from it. So, Alicia continued her demonstration and showed Danny how to precisely trim weeds that were too bulky for the mower.

After she felt that he was comfortable with the task, she left to it and left to get the mower. However, before she could pull the mower out of the shed, she realized something sounded wrong. The weed wacker seemed to get angrier, like the blades were being blocked by something, trying to spin but being held back. She tripped over a watering can and ran out of the shed to see what was wrong.

Danny was near the edge of the yard, standing still with the weed wacker digging straight into the dirt. The weed wacker wasn't supposed to be used like that - if he put the machine head into the ground, the motor wouldn't be able to spin. With the motor unable to spin, it could start to smoke and potentially catch fire.

Alicia was about to ask what the _hell_ he was doing when she realized; Danny wasn't exactly standing still, he was hyperventilating. From where she stood, about fifteen feet away, she could see the panicked rise of his chest as he struggled to breath in air.

Out of all the times for him to have a panic attack… holding a dangerous piece of gardening equipment was definitely not a good one.

Alicia started running, no _sprinting_, across the yard. She had to quickly calm Danny down so he wouldn't hurt himself. _Why had she thought that this was a good idea?_

"Danny," she stood behind him. "Breath, _breath_."

He was still holding the weed wacker, driving it into the ground. His grip on the tool was so tight that his hands were practically chalk white. He continued to hyperventilate, his eyes cloudy with faraway terror; he was having a flashback. At the grocery store, he'd only been partially triggered by the smell of the meat, but she could see it in his eyes. Mentally, he was back _there_ \- back… when Jack and Mads….

She had to get him to let go of the weed wacker so she could turn it off.

"Danny, listen to me. You have to let go of the weed wacker. It's… it's just a gardening tool, Danny. It might catch on fire, you have to let go."

She waved her hand in front of his face and realized that he wasn't blinking. His breaths were getting faster and faster now.

"You're… you're with me, Danny," she reassured. "You're not… not in danger. You _just have to_ let go of the weed wacker. _Breath slowly_."

Some semblance of recognition seeped into his eyes; it wasn't much, but was enough for his grip on the weed wacker to slacken just enough for Alicia to pry his fingers off of the tool. She removed Danny's hand from the handle, grabbed the tool herself, and turned it off before it could do any damage. She abandoned it on the ground and turned back to Danny.

There were tears welling in his eyes and he pressed his hands against his chest, pressing his diaphragm. He wasn't hyperventilating as bad, but he was still smitten with the confines of his mind. His lip was quivering like he wanted to say something, maybe scream, but he was forcing himself to stay silent. His knees were also shaking, and Alicia swore if there was any wind that day, he'd probably already be on the ground.

"Danny?" her own voice came out quiet, unsure. He didn't respond. He looked straight ahead, focusing on a fixed point on the horizon. "Danny," she tried again, louder. Still, he clutched his chest and gazed at a horror only he could see.

She was afraid to touch him, but she didn't know if he would respond to any verbal implorations. Carefully, Alicia reached for his shoulder, hoping to pull him back into reality. He flinched at her touch, his weak knees almost giving out and causing him to fall. Despite that, he kept himself upright. He began to blink the tears out of his eyes, reassessing his surroundings.

Alicia removed her hand from his shoulder as if she was touching an iron. "Danny… are you… alright?"

He hiccuped. Deliriously, he tightened his hold on his chest at the sudden spasm. "N - _no_." He choked out a sob. "'M sorry. I - I-"

"It's okay, hon," she comforted. Her fear dissipated; right now this boy needed some consolation, someone to soothe him. She moved slowly, making sure that he was okay with her hugging him. She wrapped her arms around his quaking form and gently patted his back. "_I'm _sorry that this happened."

He shook his head, "I ca - can't do anything. Can't even trim a _freaking_ lawn cause the weed wacker's too _loud_," he lamented bitterly. He squeezed his eyes shut and mumbled, "Because the loud noise is too much like... when..."

Alicia had assumed that the noise from the weed wacker had triggered his flashback, but now she _knew_ that was definitely the case. She didn't like what that implied. When Maddie described what they did to Danny, Alicia had just imagined a surgery-like operation - scalpels and slicing up flesh. If the noise had anything to do with his memories, then what else had they done to him? Exactly what gory tools had they used to tear him apart?

"That's not your fault," she reasoned, doing her best to keep her voice steady. This revelation was tugging on her heart and she didn't know if she could keep it together. "I understand. Just… give it time. The memories will fade."

"No they won't," he denied. "They're always going to be this bad. 'M always going to be a _fucking mess_."

"You say that now, but things always do get better, Danny. I promise," she recalled her own struggle with overcoming the past. Her loveless marriage, her abortion as a teenager, her struggle with her own homophobia. After so many years, when the bad memories reached their peak.

She almost lost her mind, herself, but then she worked to get herself out. To dig herself out of that mental hole and to relinquish her shallow marriage. She accepted herself and accepted that her husband didn't need to be with a woman who didn't love him. Once she had done that, it was so much easier to move on… for the bad memories to fade.

"You're just fifteen, you can move on from this - you just have to learn to let go of that pain. Leave it in the past. It'll be hard, but you can do it."

She hoped that in Danny's case that he only left his experiences in the past, not his parents. But if that's what it took for him to recover… she wouldn't hold it against him. Though, only time would tell.

He sniffled. "I don't - I don't know…."

"You don't have to know right now. How about you go inside and watch a DVD? I have a bunch of 'em under the TV that you can choose from."

"O-" he hiccuped again, "-okay."

* * *

Later, after she had finished the yard work by herself, she came back inside and found Danny sitting on the couch. The TV was off, even though Alicia had helped him pick out a movie, a Disney one. But he was just blankly staring at the wall. If he turned the movie off right after she left, he must've at least been sitting there for an hour. Doing nothing.

She didn't mention it. Instead, she forced smile and left to go make dinner. She figured that he needed some time to just think after what had happened earlier, since putting him to work only made things worse. She was scared of that happening again.

* * *

Danny wanted to get on the Internet. He had his phone, which had limited data (whatever that meant) but he wanted to use a computer. So, Alicia suggested that they both go to the public library. She said that she'd check out a book while he 'surfed the worldwide web'. He only facepalmed and told her she was old. Admittedly, Alicia was okay with that.

The twenty-minute drive didn't feel as tense as their last trip to town. Danny tuned the radio to a rock station he liked and bobbed his head to the music. She couldn't say she liked his music, but it was refreshing to see such a staggering change in his demeanor.

"You know this song?" she asked, amused. He was mouthing the lyrics and looked more energetic than she'd ever seen him.

"Kinda?" he shrugged. "I know it because of my friend Sam."

"And he listens to a lot of this music?" she asked.

"Yeah, uh, _she's_ goth," Danny explained. "Well, more like punk-goth. She's always changing it. Whatever makes her parents angriest."

"Sounds like the sorta girl that'd be your friend," Alicia smirked.

He tilted his head. "And what's that mean?"

"You seem like the type to get into trouble. Not bad trouble," she assured, "just to… uh," she didn't know where she was going with this.

"I get it," he said. "Trust me, I've had enough adults in my life label me as a troublemaker. And given the circumstances, they wouldn't all be wrong."

He didn't sound pleased with himself, but he also didn't sound bitter about it. He leaned forward and turned up the music, drowning out the lag in conversation.

They arrived at the library around 11am. It was a weekday, so not many people were there. There were a handful of retired townsfolk using the library computers to check their Facebook profiles, a mother and her son in the children's section, and an old woman browsing some cookbooks.

Danny logged onto one of the computer stations furthest from the elderly people. He plugged his earbuds into the computer and slipped into his own little world.

Meanwhile, Alicia slipped into the romance fiction aisle, hoping to reread one of her favorite lesbian romance novels. There weren't many, and they were well hidden too, but Alicia knew the selection. A few years back, she'd come out to one of the librarians and requested her to discreetly stock some queer-literature.

That friend didn't work at the library anymore, but thankfully the new librarian continued the tradition of hiding the books where they weren't too obvious. In a small town like this, if any of these books were found by the wrong person, it'd be scandalous. Joke's on them: she's been doing this for years. Sure, Alicia could've just bought some books - but to tell the truth, that took the thrill out of feeling like she got away with something.

Once she found her book, she sat at a table not too far away from the computers. From where she was sitting, she could generally make out what Danny was looking at on his screen. Right now, he was on one of those social media sites looking at funny pictures. She let her eyes linger on his screen for a moment before she turned her attention over to her book. She'd read this one enough times, so she started three chapters in; the first two were just boring set-up chapters. The _real_ action started in chapter three - the main love interest was introduced.

After a while, Alicia lost track of time. By the time she got to eleven, she realized that it was almost 1pm. She was starting to feel a bit hungry and wondered if Danny would like to go out to lunch. There was a cafe nearby with really good reuben sandwiches and cherry Coke. She put her book down and looked glanced over to see what Danny was looking at on the computer now.

He was on some sort of news website. Given by the look of it, it was an Amity Park news site. Danny was checking up on what was happening back home. That was understandable.

She stood up from her table, leaving her book out of sight (she didn't want Danny to see it, she was still a little embarrassed to admit to him what she liked - although he probably already knew). She approached Danny from behind, going to see if he liked her lunch idea. He still had his earbuds in, so he didn't hear he coming, continuing to skim the news article on his screen.

He scrolled down and there was a picture that looked so surreal that it could've been photoshopped. It was of a kid, about the same age as Danny, who had white hair, wearing some sort of black jumpsuit, and was floating a few feet off of the ground. The picture was captioned in capital letters: 'AMITY'S HERO: MIA?' Danny's eyes lingered on the photo for a while and Alicia couldn't break her own captivation. There was something… off about that picture.

Hadn't Maddie mentioned that Danny could look like a ghost, but wasn't? That he had… another _form_? That he had been using his abilities to pose as the town's superhero?

Alicia hadn't gotten the chance to mentally digest that yet, but that picture of Danny's other self forced her to reevaluate her sister's error in a new context. When Maddie said that she hadn't recognized Danny, Alicia thought that she was exaggerating, making excuses. But that picture of him… with bleached white hair and toxic green eyes, only a shadow of life within him, proved that Danny's duality was much more innate than Alicia had initially believed.

Danny scrolled down on the page and Alicia shook herself out of her reverie. She nudged his shoulder and acted like she had just walked up. Danny flinched (something inevitable when it came to physical contact), not-so-subtly switched tabs, and pulled out his earbuds. "Yeah?"

"Would you like to go out for lunch?" she asked, ignoring how he tried to hide what he was looking at. She told him about the cafe He didn't seem very excited about eating, but he agreed that it was probably a good time to get a meal. They left the library for the day and returned home after the cafe.

* * *

Alicia usually didn't keep a close eye on her dogs whenever she let them out to use the bathroom. They knew to stay close to the house and she trusted them all not to run away. But when she opened the door to let them inside, she realized that something was up whenever Casey was the only one waiting on the porch. She glanced around and couldn't find Mercury or Meryl anywhere. With a pang of worry, she ushered Casey inside and went out to look for her other two dogs. It was 8pm and the sun had already set but there was still some light left in the sky, embers of daylight. She peeked around the bushes and started to get more nervous.

"Meryl! Mercury!" she called out. "Come here girl! Come on boy! Be good dogs!"

She didn't hear anything, didn't see anything. There was no indication where her dogs had ran off to and it was getting darker by the second.

"MERYL! MERCURY! MER, MERC!" she called out. She thought of things that may lure them out, "You want food? Are you hungry?"

Still nothing, until she heard a small whimper. Then a bark. Followed by more frantic barking. Both of her dogs were crying out to her; something was very wrong.

She chased the sound through the thicket of trees, stepping over tree roots and trudging through fallen leaves. The barking was getting closer, she was almost there. And then, she turned around a tree and saw Meryl; she was barking hysterically, unharmed, but afraid. She noticed startlingly that Meryl had blood on her face, matted around her mouth. Not good, not good at all.

Meryl ran to her and Alicia numbly patted her head to assess that she was okay. She couldn't get over the blood. Where - where was Mercury? She pushed past Meryl and searched for him, the wonderful brown-furred asshole that she loved. Meryl weaved around her legs, seeming to try and guide Alicia.

Moments later, she found Mercury, pained and screaming in agony. His eyes were bulging out of his head and he continued to bark in a wounded frenzy. His leg was blotched with red, twisted and caught in a thorn bush. The thorns were stuck in his leg, and the more he moved, the deeper they dug into his skin. Suddenly, the blood around Meryl's mouth made sense; she had been trying to pull Mercury out of the bush herself.

"Shit," Alicia panicked. "Shit, _shit_, SHIT."

She reached for Mercury's leg, hoping to see if she could pry the thorns out of his flesh, but he howled when she touched him. She recoiled, afraid of injuring him more. What was she supposed to do? If she couldn't touch the bush without making things worse, how could she help him? If only she had something to trim the bush, to cut the thorns away - but she didn't. She'd left her pocket knife at the house. She could always go back and get it, but Mercury was severely bleeding. She didn't want to leave he and Meryl alone.

"What do I do!" she cried helplessly, clenching her own arm. No, she had to stay level-headed. She had to find a solution. She had to help her boy.

Something crunched behind her. Alicia turned and saw Danny approaching. She exhaled in relief that it wasn't some kind of predator attracted to Mercury's blood.

"Wh - what's going on?" he asked. "I heard the barking from the house."

"Merc's stuck in a thorn bush - he's bleedin' badly, really bad. I - I can't get him out," she rambled, getting back on her knees and attempting to pull away some of the branches. It didn't work and Mercury let out another resounding yelp. "I don't - I dunno what to do," her voice cracked.

Danny stared at her. She didn't waste any time in making a third attempt. Fed up with this _fucking_ bush, she tried violently pulling it apart which resulted in about three thorns getting embedded in her palm. She screamed out in surprise as she registered the white hot pain that came from the spikes breaking her skin. She grit her teeth and tried to pull one of the thorns out - _it hurt so much_ \- but when she managed to pull it out, the pain doubled. She squinted her eyes shut and realized what a dumbass move that'd been; you weren't supposed to just rip things out of your body when your were injured.

There was a blur of movement in front of her. Alicia blinked the tears out of her eyes and realized that Danny was standing between her and Mercury. She watched dumbly as he reached out for the bush, doing nothing to prevent him from repeating her mistake. It dawned on her too late that he wasn't going to stop. "Danny, wai-"

He wrapped his fingers around one of the thorn branches. But… his fingers weren't there? His entire arm was a pale, translucent blue up to his elbow. She could see _through_ his arm, like it wasn't even tangible. Alicia watched was awestruck when she realized that Danny was making the weird blueness spread to the bush.

The entire bush became transparent, including the thorns that had trapped Mercury, but not Mercury himself. Danny kept his transparent hand on the bush and used his other hand to maneuver Mercury out from where the bush should've been. Once Mercury was clear of the thornbush, he let go of the bush and whatever he was doing to make his hand see-through.

Danny immediately clutched his chest, also seething in pain. "_Stupid injured core_," he hissed. He leaned against a tree trunk, trying to maintain balance. Alicia stared at him as he did so, stricken by how unkempt he looked in that moment. Using that… _power_… really did a number on him. Yet, he still didn't think twice about freeing Mercury.

He noticed her fixated stare and paled. He moved his hands from his chest up to his hair and started breathing faster. _Oh no_… not again. "I'm sorry," he whimpered. "I'm sorry that I - I did that without - _asking_. That was…"

He was afraid of her, afraid that she was judging him for using his powers at all - when in fact it was the opposite. She hadn't told him that she had seen his eyes burn green in the dark, that she had seen the picture of his other form at the library; from his perspective this was her first direct confrontation with his inhumanity. It wasn't, and she wasn't very startled by it. Yes, she was taken aback, but not in a way that he'd expect.

He hadn't realized that she had already accepted him. Thus, he was panicking, belittling himself through a lense of self-hatred.

"Danny, it's alright," she told him. She probably looked just as pathetic, on the ground, leaves sticking to her clothing. There were still thorns in her hands and she was bleeding out. Meryl was trying to lick the blood off now, to make Alicia better, but she pushed her away. A few feet away, Mercury was still on the ground, laying still but would be okay.

"No," he said. His voice was raw and broken, shameful. Yes, that's what it was: he was ashamed. "No, you… you don't even understand what I am."

She shook her head. "It's okay, I do."

"No you don't!" he protested. His eyes glimmered with desperation, pallid cheeks, and his lipped thinned with disgusting. "I'm a _freak_," he stressed. "I - I shouldn't... sh-"

Despite the throbbing in her palm, Alicia pulled herself up and closed the distance between them. Danny looked scared at her abrupt movement, but didn't do anything to try and flee. His eyes darted around, trying to look anywhere but her.

"You're not a freak," she told him, boldly. Since his arrival, they had avoided talking about the particulars of what Danny was. Even during his last breakdown, it felt taboo to mention. But now, they were both breaking those rules. She was _done_ with this tension between them. She was done with censoring their conversations, their interactions. That's all that they had done during his visit and it was time to end that _bullshit_.

"Sure, you're not normal, but you're not a 'freak'," she resumed. "You're a good kid, and that's all that matters - you just got some extra stuff about you. Ghost powers? Those are the least of my concern. I worry for you hon, and all this internalized self-hatred has gotta stop. Trust me, I speak from experience. Took me years to get over my homophobia, but when I did, everything was so much better."

His mouth opened and then closed for a moment. "Th - that's different-" he sputtered. "You're just gay. I'm _not human_."

She snorted, "According to the Bible-thumpers we're the same, then. Seriously hon, you're a sweet guy. Hell, apparently you're a superhero? You gotta strong moral compass, probably stronger than mine. Who cares that you're different from the rest of us?"

"_I_ do…" he broke off, mumbling, "and Mom and Dad do…."

Alicia crossed her arms, "Your Mom and Dad accept you. They coulda left you to die after what happened, but instead… do you know how broken Mads was once she realized what she'd done? When she called me hours after, sobbing, destroying herself. They also see you for who you are - as their son. Why can't you?"

"I don't… I don't know," he choked. "Because that has to be why so many things are wrong with me, right? Because I'm like _this_."

"There's something wrong with everybody, but you just gotta overcome that part of you that rejects that part of yourself. You have to accept your experiences and who you are and try to be the best _you_."

He fell silent, unable to respond. Eventually he looked at her quizzically. "Is… are there still thorns in your hand?"

"Huh?" she asked. "Oh, yeah - but it's fine," she dismissed. "I'll gettem out with tweezers later."

He shook his head, adopting a sudden look of determination. "I got you." He reached out for her palm and pressed his hand into hers. It hurt for a moment, until suddenly her entire went numb and tingly; blue and transparent. The two thorns that were left in her hand fell onto the ground, leaving behind two clean punctures left in her hand. Luckily, the way that he had removed them caused minimal bleeding.

His casual exhibition of powers spoke more than either of them could. And like that, the previous tension dissipated, as Danny took her words into consideration.

"Thanks," she smiled, turning her hand over. It still hurt like hell but the removal of the thorns helped the pain go down exponentially.

"Don't mention it," he answered.

And she didn't. Because even though Danny had some not-so-human abilities and experiences, all he needed to do was accept that side of himself. Alicia already accepted him; she needed to support him so that he could realize that he was worth it. He needed to accept that even though he was different, that his differences made _him_ himself.


	8. Into the Phantom-Verse

**Day 10/12: Favorite AU/Crossover**

**Word Count: 8609 words**

**Genre: Action/Humor**

**Special thanks to Represent, The Full Catastrophe, and kikaiz (on Tumblr) for letting me use their AUs! I hope I did your characters justice by putting my own spin on them!**

* * *

Everything felt unnatural, tingly - like there was some kind of static stuck to the inside of his skin. Zion hadn't felt right since last night, when his older sister Valerie had snuck him into an abandoned GIW laboratory. Against his better judgement, Zion had wandered away from Valerie - who insisted on showing him some of the old security schematics their father used to work on at the GIW. He had found a tunnel into the wall, a mess of tangled wires and what looked like a radiator.

Of course, Zion had walked into that tunnel and pushed a button. And for just a second, there had been a flash of pain. Then his memory went blank; sky blue nothingness. He couldn't remember what had happened after that moment. The next thing he recalled was Valerie pulling him off the floor, shaking him, begging him to wake up. Once she realized that he was okay, she gave him a lecture about sneaking off without her and then drove him home.

Now he was frazzled, paranoid that whatever happened in that tunnel had made him sick. When he had woken up, the colors in his bedroom seemed painfully vibrant, giving him a dull headache that wasn't quelled with Tylenol. His skin felt hypersensitive, everything felt too… material?

And then there had been breakfast. At first, Zion had thought that he kept dropping his fork and he would've believed that unless he saw otherwise - for a moment, he saw his hand go transparent and watched the fork fall _through_ his grip. That definitely… wasn't normal.

He didn't tell his parents. He couldn't just rat out Valerie like that - she'd taken him to the GIW lab trusting that he wouldn't tell their parents. Even though she was ten years older than him, she wouldn't hesitate to beat the shit out of him for that sort of betrayal. So instead, he swallowed more pain killers and hoped that the foreign sensations would go away.

Everything got worse when he was at school. That new girl he'd been crushing on? Samantha - she'd said her name was - seemed to realize that there was something wrong with him. His entire body was covered in sweat and he kept breathing out cold puffs of air… even though it was spring. Something was seriously wrong with him and he'd made a complete fool out of himself in front of her!

Somehow, his hand had gotten partially stuck _in_ the material of her purple backpack and they had to cut it open with scissors to get it free. He knew for sure now that he'd seen his hand go transparent. He phased into her backpack like it didn't even exist on the same level of reality that he did….

Walking through the hallways of school even felt jarring. He could feel everyone's eyes on him… and it dawned on him how obvious he was being. Oh, God - could this get any worse? Everyone knows. _Everyone knows! _

All of a sudden, that sudden tingling gripped his leg and he almost fell through the floor. He panicked and shook his leg until it felt solid again. Zion glanced around, seeing if anyone had noticed.

_They're talking about me,_ he determined. _They saw everything! He knows. She knows. THEY know. _He squeezed his eyes shut and ducked into the nearest bathroom to calm down. He couldn't face them, couldn't face what was happening to him.

Because whatever was wrong with Zion was very wrong. He didn't feel _normal_ anymore. And if he had to bet, it was because of what had happened with that tunnel last night. And he was starting to get an idea what it might've done to him. After all, everyone in Amity Park knew that phasing was a common ghost power.

* * *

When he went back to the lab, he didn't expect to find Amity Park's infamous ghostly hero, Phantom; his archenemy, Plasmius; and hordes of GIW roving around the laboratory. Phantom was successfully fighting off Plasmius, who seemed to be in league with the GIW, even though he was a ghost? What really confused Zion was that just last night, this particular laboratory was abandoned. Yet now, it was teeming with activity - a battle ground between heroes, villains, and scientists.

What had Zion gotten himself into? This place was dangerous and it wasn't like he could protect himself. After all, he wasn't a hero like Phantom! He wasn't a really a 'true' ghost, he was just… tainted? So far he'd figured out that he had some ghostly abilities from that tunnel… he could deal with that. But having ghost powers didn't qualify him to fight like Danny Phantom! It was ludicrous just being here!

Zion hid behind a pillar, watching the fight with vexed interest. He could see the vague shape of Phantom's lean and tall figure; he was a strong ghost, appearing to be about in his early twenties. Zion had heard stories of when he looked younger, more nimble and more baby-faced. Seeing Phantom now, Zion could tell that he was the epitome of someone who had grown into a great hero.

Phantom fired an ectoblast at Plasmius, "Vlad, listen to me," he said. "This new portal can't stay _open_, it's not like the other portals. Amity Park has reached its max allowance of ghost portals!"

"And how should you know, Daniel?"

"_My parents_ did the calculations. I guess none of us really like the idea of Amity Park being sucked into the Ghost Zone?"

Yeah, he really was stupid for coming here. If they were talking about a portal… and Zion had accidentally turned something on last night… then it was _his_ fault for this happening. He had started up the portal that was causing all the problems here. "I think I'm gonna go," he muttered.

"After what happened last time, can you blame us?" Phantom dodged a blast from Plasmius, and retaliated with a shot of ice, managing to graze the bottom of Plasmius's cape.

Zion turned and ran, doing his best to just _get out_ of the lab. Unfortunately, before he could get very far, it turns out some of Phantom's ice hit a nearby pillar, causing a beam to crash into the area where Zion was hiding. Off-balance, Zion fell on top of the beam, which lurched with his weight, swinging back out right in the line of fire between Phantom and Plasmius. Terrified beyond belief, Zion clutched onto the rogue beam for dear life.

"No!" he freaked out, doing his best to dig his hands into the beam. "No!"

Phantom and Plasmius didn't see him and continued their battle, the force of their parries knocking the beam around the room, carrying Zion with it. He was so scared that he couldn't even scream, terror locking him onto the flying pillar. After a moment or so of back-and-forth shots, Plasmius's resolve hardened and he summoned a barrage of clones. In unison, the clones all shot ectoblasts at Phantom. Phantom was able to deflect the ectoblasts by putting up a well-timed shield, but Zion was left vulnerable. He had to jump off the beam to avoid being hit, thus exposing him to Phantom and Plasmius.

Suddenly, everything felt much more real.

He didn't know if either of the ghosts saw him, but he couldn't dwell on that anymore. Instead, he turned and continued his escape, heading for a massive hallway away from the battle. He was more focused on speed than watching where he was going, so when he reached the end of the hallway, he almost tripped over a ledge down into another room below. It was about a thirty-foot drop, so Zion cautiously hung onto the walls to avoid falling down.

"Woah," he marvelled, processing that he had almost fallen from a fatal height. _What now?_

He should've turned back and found another route, but his curiosity ultimately got the best of him and he looked down into the room below. After a moment, he was stricken with realization that it was the same room he'd been in last night; the place with that weird tunnel. Although, it looked… _different_ from above.

The lighting was definitely not the same from when he had been with Valerie last night; it was all lit up now so that the entire room was obviously pristine and white, glowing with an eerie blue light. Wait… that blue light?

There was a blue light coming from the wall, exactly where the tunnel had been. He couldn't see inside the tunnel, but he had a bad feeling that was the portal that Phantom had mentioned. A portal that was supposedly too much for Amity Park to handle. And Zion had opened it himself because he had pressed a button. And then he suspiciously had fallen unconscious and gained ghostly abilities….

It all made sense. Well, not really. He didn't know _what_ the portal was or where it went. Supposedly, it was like the famous Fenton Portal that had been constructed years ago by local ghost hunters - a portal the ghost world. However, Phantom had said that it was different. _New_. Maybe it had something to do with Zion being on the inside when it opened up?

"What _is_ the portal for?" he wondered.

Before he could even think, Zion realized too late that the sounds of fighting had been getting closer and closer. There was a small explosion behind him - a _cold_ explosion - and then next thing Zion knew he was careening down the thirty-foot ledge. The world spun in a blur of movement, white walls greeting him all around as he fell. Somewhere below him, Plasmius hit the ground many seconds before Zion, presumably from the direct force of whatever Phantom had hit him with. And in that moment Zion knew; he was going to die.

Except something cool and strong wrapped around his stomach, pulling against the motion of gravity and lifting Zion into the air - _flying_. All he could see was the floor below him: white, white, white - and then he was thrown up once again, caught, and set down on a concrete platform. He was facing Phantom. Phantom had caught him after he fell and had saved him. _Holy crap_. Zion was staring at Phantom and neither of them were saying anything and Phantom was just looking back at him and-

"Did you know your shoes are untied?" Phantom asked, gesturing to Zion's unlaced trainers.

Zion gaped at him blankly, only managing an incoherent, "Uh, huh," in response.

Phantom didn't know what to say either, so he elaborated, "These are HAZMAT boots so I don't really have to worry about it."

What was Zion supposed to say to that? There was a momentary lapse, then a single beat. The concentration of static energy within Zion stuttered, reached out, and unfurled; simultaneously, Phantom breathed out a wispy trail of blue mist. Zion felt like the boundaries between he and Phantom collapsed in that moment, allowing their minds (_no, their cores_) to converge for a split second. And then, the sensation was over.

He was a ghost. Zion had to be. That… _this_ wasn't normal. His core had resonated with Phantom's for a moment and he could feel it - that both of them were-

"-the _same_," Phantom cursed. He was at a loss for words. "Y - you're like me," Phantom sputtered. "You're a halfa. Another one, fairly new too. Were you the one that opened that portal?"

Zion shook his head, "I don't - don't know what that means. I pushed a button in that thing and then… I was like this? I really don't know, don't know what 'halfa' is. Am I dead? Am I a ghost?" he asked, desperately. "I don't want to be."

Phantom sighed, a pitiful look in his eyes. "I don't think you have a choice, kid. A halfa is someone who's half-human and half-ghost; they have ghost powers and can change into a ghost form. That's me, and you now." He softened his voice and continued, "Got a lot going through your head, I'm sure."

"Yeah," he nodded numbly.

"You're gonna be fine," Phantom assured. "I can help you. If you stick around, I can show you the ropes."

_Was this even happening?_ Phantom was offering to help him through this. Not to mention the bombshell that _Phantom_ was also half-human. "Yeah," Zion was relieved. If anyone could help him, he knew he could trust his hero.

Phantom stood up from where he was crouched, "I just need to destroy this new ghost portal before it expands and pulls Amity Park into other dimensions. Don't move. See you in a bit-"

Phantom leapt into the air, relinquishing gravity's hold on him, and soaring towards the direction of the portal. Zion watched in amazement, wondering for the first time what it must be like to do that.

* * *

Zion was running now. A team of about four GIW agents had pushed Phantom into the unstable portal and manually restarted the start-up, finishing the process that Zion had started the night before. Apparently he'd gotten the machine to work enough for them to partially open up a breach into another dimension, but they needed a catalyst that was fully ectoplasmic to finish the process. So, they mercilessly shoved Phantom into the portal - bright blue light, the scent of flesh burning, agonized screams… and then nothing.

Phantom had fallen out of the portal with black hair. _Dead_. When he hit the floor, he didn't look like a ghost anymore, just a _dead dead dead_ corpse. A human corpse. And -

_It's all my fault. I did this, _Zion realized.

He choked out an ugly sob, doing little to stifle the sound. That was a mistake; the GIW agents had realized the there was someone else there. They commanded one of their freelancers, the Red Huntress, to investigate. They told her to hunt down the interloper and bring him in for detainment. Zion couldn't be caught, he just couldn't; so he ran. He ran as fast as he feet would take him away from the scene of the crime and didn't look back.

The Red Huntress stayed in pursuit of him and almost had him when his foot phased into the street, but he managed to to escape. It had been so close that Zion was pretty much convinced that he was _over_. Over just like Phantom… who had been so ready to help him, but met his demise at the crux of Zion's mistake. If he'd never pushed that button no one would've been there tonight! He couldn't - couldn't _breath_.

He slipped into his bedroom and sobbed himself to sleep, ignoring the static under his skin that crawled and clung to his insides. He was stuck like this and now he was truly, _totally_ alone.

* * *

Phantom had been a Fenton, the renowned family of ghost hunters that lived in Amity Park. Zion hadn't been close enough to see who Phantom was in his… _human form_. But it was all over the news, so that meant that the GIW must have announced it to the world.

No matter where Zion turned, there was always a television or phone screen that was reporting something to do with Phantom….

Channel 7 News: "Multiple sources are confirming the existence of ghost-hybrids, previously thought to be impossible."

An Internet article about his death: "Danny Fenton, a twenty-four-year old grad student and successor to FentonWorks has shadowed as ghostly town hero, Phantom, for at least a decade. By some counts, Fenton has saved thousands of lives around the state area as Phantom. With these tragic seismic events on the rise, one can only wonder, is there anyone who can keep Amity Park safe?

A YouTube video his Mom sent him: "He is survived by his sister Jasmine Fenton and his parents, Madeline and Jack Fenton."

And lastly, over the intercom at school: "Our hero Phantom is gone."

Even though there was all this information out there, there seemed to be a definite lack of knowledge about _how_ Danny Fenton had died. Zion tried to not let it bother him, but in the end… his guilt kept coming back to him. Especially in Jasmine Fenton's words at her brother's funeral….

To honor Phantom, many of the attendants of his funeral dressed up like their late ghost hero. Some costumes… were crude, lame attempts at cosplay; gray wigs, black tracksuits, and felt 'DP' emblems pinned to their shirts. However, there was some balance in the crowd and some had notably good costumes. Zion might have been biased, but he felt like his costume was more on that side of the spectrum. He found one of his Mom's old wigs and bleached it white, looking realistically close to Phantom's hair color, bought a black cosplay 'HAZMAT suit' white ankle high white boots.

Jazz stood in front of the crowd, fondly looking over the imitations of her brother's ghost form. She spoke into the microphone, "My brother Danny got ghost powers when he was fourteen years old. I found out about it almost immediately, and my parents learned by the end of high school. Even before he became Danny Phantom, he was always an inspiration to me, someone I could look up to. Back then, he wasn't a 'hero', he was just an ordinary kid. And then was happened happened; as a half-ghost, he felt like it was his duty to protect the city since he was the only who could fight the ghosts with their power. His ghost side drove his awful hero complex," she laughed, "always insisting that he should be the only person allowed to put himself in the line of fire. He was too noble for his own good…."

"But my favorite thing about Danny is that even though he stayed in touch with his humanity, always believing in the abilities of others. Danny made us each feel powerful; we all have powers of one kind or another. So in our own way, we are all Phantom. And we're all counting on you."

That hit hard. For a moment, Zion wondered if Jazz knew about him because it all felt too close to home. He was the only other half-ghost now - in theory, he had the same powers as Danny. "They're all counting on me," he realized.

* * *

After the funeral, Zion tried jumping off a short building to see if he could fly. It hadn't gone well; he'd uselessly fallen to the ground and only survived the impact by turning intangible. Thankfully, he hadn't fallen through the street into the sewer and flickered painfully back into tangibility. Demoralized, frustrated, and grieving, Zion decided to visit Danny's grave. Maybe he'd get a revelation there that could help him through this entire _mess._

Little did he expect to encounter a man that looked exactly like Danny Fenton with gray sweatpants and light stubble. Nor did he expect the electricity from his own hands that promptly knocked the imposter (_he had to be an imposter, right?_) unconscious.

* * *

"I love this burger. So delicious," the new (yet older and fatter) version of Danny said, shamelessly cramming the food into his mouth. "One of the best burgers I've ever had. In my universe, this place closed sixteen years ago. Blew up during my Sophomore year of college." He snorted. "Guess for me some things _were_ inevitable."

An employee regarded Danny B's drab appearance skeptically, sliding the check on the table. Danny B frowned, "You have money right? I'm not very liquid right now."

"Can we focus?" Zion asked, beyond exasperated.

Danny B didn't take his face out of the burger, "Uh huh, sure."

"The other Danny-"

Danny ignored Zion and reached for his burger. "You gonna eat that?" he reciprocated Zion's harsh look. "I'm listening."

"The other Danny said he was going to be showing me the ropes," Zion told him. He still didn't fully understand this 'other dimension' thing that Danny B had told him about, but he was going with it. His life had been crazy enough in the past three days. An older, grumpier version of Phantom from a different dimension - _why not_? They apparently had to close the portal the Zion had opened - _perfect fine_!

"Wow," he responded carelessly, taking a second to sip from his soda.

Zion was getting antsy, "You got any half-ghost tips you can tell me now?"

"Yeah," Danny B

"I got plenty. Starting out, don't stay in ghost form for more than six hours at a time because you'll get a migraine. Hurts like hell and painkillers won't work. You don't want that, right?"

Zion pressed him to continue, "Anything else?"

"Nope," he said, "that was everything."

Zion groaned. "I think you're going to be a bad teacher."

"Mhmm…" Danny B smiled. "Look up where Axion Labs is."

At his request, Zion fished out his phone and looked up the name on Google. He read the search results out loud, "A private branch of the GIW in Elmerton, Illinois. That's about twenty miles out of Amity Park." Zion set his phone down and realized with a rush of excitement, "You can teach me to fly on the way there!"

Danny B only laughed.

* * *

"Can't believe we took the bus," Zion muttered once they had arrived at the woods outside of Axion. From the edge of the treeline, they could see Axion up on the hill.

"I'm supposed to be dead. Well, _dead_ dead. That and I'm not flying to Elmerton, Zion. Not after a hearty burger-breakfast. Don't exhaust your core, you're gonna thank me later."

_No comment. _"So we're going to go in there?" Zion asked instead, tilting his head towards the facility..

"Yep," Danny B replied. He stood back and held his arms out in the air for a moment. Just when Zion was about to question what he was doing, a bright white light circled his midsection, creating a halo around his waist. The ring of light spread over his body, changing his day-clothes into Phantom's signature HAZMAT suit, his black hair to white, and his blue eyes to green. Before him was the striking image of Phantom.

Zion's jaw dropped. _Woah_.

"You alright there?" Danny B checked.

Zion used his hands to push his jaw back into place. "Uh huh."

"Good," he said, slapping Zion on the shoulder. "It's your turn, kid."

Zion stared at him. "M - my turn?"

"To transform," Danny B clarified. At Zion's mystified look, he realized that he had no idea what he was talking about. Danny B groaned, "You haven't transformed before, have you?"

"This ghost thing only happened to me three days ago! How would I know what to do?"

Danny B shrugged. "I dunno. I figured out how to do it pretty quick. But… I _guess_ I'll talk you through it."

The notion of changing into a ghost was scary, foreign territory. Not… _normal_. Zion didn't know how he felt about it, but this version of Phantom was offering to guide him. And hell, this was still _a_ Phantom, how could he refuse?

"Okay," he agreed, "alright."

"So first, close your eyes and breath." Zion did as he said. "'K, now you focus on your core, that bubble of energy or whatever in the middle of you. You feel it?"

Zion opened an eye, keeping the other one shut, "It uh… doesn't really feel cold. But I think I do?"

"_Right…_ you're probably a different core type than me. Anyway focus on it and mentally try to drag that feeling over all of yourself."

Zion tried to do what he said, poking and prodding that ball of energy within him. Nothing happened. He attempted mimicking Danny B by putting his hands up into the air and tried again. Yet, his core still stubbornly refused to cooperate.

"It's not working," he admitted, defeated.

"That's fine, I expected that," Danny B nodded.

"_Wow_, how encouraging," Zion rolled his eyes.

Danny B waved his hand dismissively, "It's not easy, so I give you props for trying. We'll just go ahead with the plan."

Zion gave him a skeptical look, "Which is…?"

Danny B recounted a loose plan were he would phase into Axion Labs, find the head scientist's computer with the password to deactivate the portal, 'hack' the computer, and steal a bagel from the cafeteria.

After he was done explaining, Zion raised a brow. "So what am I doing?"

Danny B suddenly broke eye contact, "Uh… Step 7: You stay here, you're lookout. _Very_ important."

_Lookout_? Zion reacted fiercely, "Look, man you have to teach me to do ghost stuff or I'm not going to be able to help-"

Danny B calmly stretched his limbs, causally floating off of the ground. "Alright…" He turned to fly towards Axion, putting his back to Zion. He called behind him, "Watch and learn, kid, I'll quiz you later!"

And before Zion could protest, he had slipped into invisibility, stealthily infiltrating the facility. Danny B had just left Zion in the woods, alone. _How could he just-_

"AGH," he screamed in frustration. This guy was supposed to be the solution, but wasn't helping him at all! "Why did I get stuck with the janky-old, broke, hobo Phantom?"

In a swell of fury, he motioned punching a nearby rock, but instead of just a mad swipe through the air, green energy wrapped around his hands and shot out. The ectoblast hit the rock he was aiming at and left a smoking scorch mark. Zion regarded his hands warily, "That's new."

Moments later, a car pulled up to Axion Labs; a car of about six GIW agents. Wait no, that wasn't right. These agents were familiar… because they had been the ones there at the abandoned lab that night. These were the agents that had _killed_ Phantom, well, the first Phantom.

And Danny B had told Zion to be lookout. Making sure that they didnt see him, he hid behind a bush out of caution. _What do I do? What do I do?_ _What do I do?_

His feet started running towards the facility before he had even made a decision. He had to warn Danny B.

* * *

So… the plan completely fell off the rails. And both Danny B and Zion felt like that was one Zion. Instead of just pulling the file with the password off of the head scientist's computer, Zion had the _wonderful_ idea to just take the entire computer! Monitor and all. And now the entire facility knew they were there and the GIW had deployed one of their brainwashed ghosts on them: Skulkress. Skulkress used to be an enemy of Phantom's before the GIW had captured her and turned her into one of their 'guard ghosts'.

They were on the sundeck, ready to make their escape. Skulkress and the GIW were gaining on them.

"You know," Danny B suggested, waving around his bagel, "this would be a _great_ time for you to transform."

Zion stared at him, "Dude."

"Come on it's easy-"

"That is _not_ what you said earlier!"

Skulkress was only twenty feet away now, they really didn't have the time to do this.

"Just focus on it, kid," Danny B said. "You gotta fly and our hands our full."

Zion looked at him, panicked. "But I can't do this yet! And you have a bage-"

Danny B cut him off, reassuring him, "Everybody knows that the best way to learn is under intense, life-threatening pressure!" _No, not it isn't!_  
Without any other choice, Zion focused on his core - _begging _it to do what Danny B had described. That static feeling washing over his entire body and changing him. "C'mon, c'mon," he muttered. He put all his energy into that mantra… annndd still nothing.

He was going to die.

Danny B had already jumped into the air, taking flight. Zion was left behind with the computer and had no way of getting into the air. As a last resort, he tried jumping off of the sundeck, praying that the hobo-Phantom was right about life-threatening pressure being a good motivator.

"Become… a _ghost_," he told himself as gravity started to pull him towards the ground. And like that, the concentration of static within him sparked, igniting every nerve in his body. It wasn't painful, it was more… exhilarating. As he fell, he watched in fascination as his body mimicked Danny B's transformation. He stopped falling and was frozen, hovering in the air.

A white ring appeared around his chest and split into two halos of light; his clothes changed color - morphing into a color-inverted version of the outfit that he had worn the night of the accident. Instead of his plain, red t-shirt and blue jeans, he was wearing a dark green shirt and tan pants… not as fashionable. He could feel the rings go over his head, but he couldn't tell what his face looked like at the moment, but from what he had seen of Danny B's transformation, he assumed that he looked radically different.

But this feeling of floating… antigravity. The static under his skin felt stronger than ever, a network of electricity fluctuate under his skin. Zion really _was_ a ghost.

As the realization sunk in, so did Zion's center of gravity. He began to fall towards the ground, despite being a ghost. He did his best to stay in the air but ultimately failed. He hit the forest floor feet first, vulnerable to any above attacks. He could hear Skulkress's engine behind him now, so Zion frantically broke into a sprint.

"What are you doing down there?!" Danny B shouted.

"I can't fly!" Zion responded, continuing to weave through trees as he ran.

"You gotta fly or they'll catch you! This is what you wanted!"

There was a rhythm of loud sounds behind him. Explosives. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Skulkress blowing trees out of the way with short-range bombs.

Danny B looked back and saw the issue, "Uh oh."

Zion tried to jump back into the air, but he uselessly fell back to the ground.

"Come back, ghost boy!" Skulkress cried over the noise of the bombs.

Realizing that Zion wasn't making any progress, Danny B doubled back and flew in front of Miles. "You gotta get yourself in the air. Look where you want to go and use the momentum of your body to move. Square your shoulders. Forget about your legs. Don't lean back unless you want to end up upside-down."

Zion took a step to the left and tried to run up a tree so he could jump into the air at a better angle. It didn't work and he fell back onto the ground. He picked himself up and resumed running.

"That's too many things!" Zion screamed.

Danny B's eyes glowed brighter, desperate. "Then stop listening to me!"

"That's the best idea you've had all day!" Zion jabbed.

He locked eyes with another tree. He could do this…_I can do this._

Zion jumped up at the tree and kicked back, putting himself into the air. It was do or die, if he fell, he wouldn't be able to get up fast enough to run from Skulkress again. And… he stayed in the air! He was hovering again and not falling!

Remembering Danny B's advice, Zion leaned his entire chest forward, keeping his shoulders squared and ignoring his legs. He began to move - _fly_ \- forward. After a few moments of slow flying, his speed picked up and had to go intangible to avoid hitting trees. With more speed, his legs blurred into a single spectral tail, wisping into nothing behind him. That was a little freaky, but he was doing it!

Danny B shot an ectoblast at Skulkress and matched Zion's pace, flying alongside him. "Nice Zion!"

"I'm doing it!" he smiled.

"Good, you're doing it!" Danny B amended.

Zion laughed, reveling in the feeling of flight. He turned to Danny B, who looked pretty ragged, but had managed to get Zion into the air with him. "I gotta say, you're amazing man!"

Danny B had an elated expression on his face, "We're a little team. Me as the teacher who can still do it. You as the student who can do it just not as good. I'm proud of us! Is there something you want to say to me-?"

Suddenly, before Zion could respond, Danny B's entire body spasmed - his form became pixelated and color seemed to glitch around him. The glitching stopped and snapped back, causing Danny B to lose momentum and lose flight. It was the dimensional glitching that Danny B had explained to him in their first conversation; because he had be sucked through the GIW's unstable portal, his atoms weren't happy being in the wrong dimension. As a result, his entire body was glitching.

Danny B fell onto a tree branch and dropped the computer. "Danny!" Zion called after him, flying down beside him on the branch, reaching out to grab the computer's power cord. He grabbed it! However, the addition of Zion's weight causes the tree branch to snap, causing both off-guard halfas to fall. While they were both disoriented, Skulkress managed to grab the computer - they were done for.

But then, there was a blur of green and white. Another ghost? Before either Danny B or Zion could do anything, vines appeared out of nowhere, tangling their limbs and keeping them from plummeting to the ground.

"What the…" the vines pulled Zion upwards.

"Who did that?" Danny B accused.

A new ghost girl appeared. Her costume resembled Phantom's HAZMAT suit, except more colorful and stylized. Rather than black, her outfit was green and white. The emblem on her chest was an 'S' with what looked like the letter 'M' inside of it, but Zion was too far away to tell exactly. Like Phantom, the mystery girl had green eyes and shoulder length white hair that was pulled into a ponytail.

The ghost girl grinned at Skulkress, egging the huntress on. Skulkress took the bait and flew towards the new ghost, keeping a firm hand on the computer. After a few well-placed ectoblasts, she managed to dispatch Skulkress and pulled out her own ghost-thermos. It wasn't a Fenton-thermos, but had the same initial design. She pressed the button and sucked Skulkress up, grabbing the computer at the last second.

She put the computer under her arm and walked along a snow-covered branch, glancing between Zion and Danny B - who were still dangling in her vines.

"Hey guys," she said casually, like they were all good friends.

Zion froze. _Her voice_… That couldn't be- "Samantha?"

"It's Sam, actually," she corrected.

Danny broke free of his vines, flying again, and looked to Zion. "Oh, you know her? Very _cool_." He paused. "Wait… are you Sam _Manson_? Like my thirty-year-old best friend from high-school _Sam_?"

"I'm from another dimension," Sam provided as an explanation. "I mean, another, another dimension. I guess I'm older in this dimension."

Sam quickly explained who she was and how she came from her dimension into this one. Two years ago when she was fourteen, she'd been in a portal accident in her best friend's basement and gotten ghost powers. Now she protected Amity Park from all kinds of ghosts with her ghostly and nature-elemental powers as Sammy Manes. Until one day, a blue ghost portal had sucked her into it, and then suddenly she was in Zion's world one week earlier. She'd gotten a feeling to enroll in her high-school, Casper High except no one there were the same kids from her dimension. There she met Zion and could tell that he was also a halfa.

"Anyway," Sam concluded, "let's go." She started flying away, followed by Danny B. Zion fumbled with Sam's vines before realizing he could just phase out of them.

He caught up with the other two halfas. "How many more half-ghosts are there?"

Danny B cackled, "Save it for Comic-Con!"

Zion tilted his head. "What's Comic-Con?"

He still didn't get a response.

* * *

Once in their human forms, they took a bus back into the city. Almost immediately, Danny B crashed in his seat, slumped between the window and Zion.

"Seeing an older version of Danny is just weird," Sam decided.

Zion looked at the snoring hobo-man. "You know him in your dimension too?"

She nodded. "Yeah, he's my best-friend. We're uh - the same age," she assured, making sure Zion didn't think she was friends with a version of Danny Fenton like Danny B. "His parents' portal is what gave me powers… I never really considered what might've happened if I hadn't been the one to check it out. I guess it could've easily been 'Danny Phantom' instead of 'Sammy Manes', huh?"

"Does he know?" Zion asked awkwardly. "About uh… the ghost stuff?"

"Oh, oh yeah," she confirmed. "Danny, Tuck, and I all hunt ghosts together. Danny's a total astronomy geek and helps out with his parents technology; Tucker's goth and helps with mythology stuff. We make a pretty good team. Even though I'm the one doing most of the fighting," she laughed.

"That must be nice, to have your best-friends back you up," Zion nodded. In school he didn't really have anyone else besides a few acquaintances. He was closer to his older sister Valerie than anyone his own age, but… he doubted he could ever tell Valerie about this. She openly _hated_ ghosts.

"They're pretty solid," she said. Picking up the unsaid meaning in Zion's words, she looked at him, "Do you… have anyone to help you with any of this?"

"In my own dimension?" he clarified. "No. But for now I guess I have you and that homeless slob," he joked.

"Well good thing that I'm better than a homeless slob," she grinned.

"Friends?" Zion asked. He held out his hand.

"Friends," she confirmed, returning his grip.

* * *

The trio stands in front of a large house, a giant UFO-looking structure bolted to the top of the building. The entire street is illuminated by the green 'FENTON WORKS' sign, creating odd shadows down the road. On the Fentons' doorstep, there are cards, bouquets, and toys; little condolences left from compassionate citizens.

Danny B regarded at the building with terror. "We should probably go," he decided.

"Danny, we're literally on the doorstep," Sam chastised.

"Bad idea, bad idea, this is a bad idea-"

"Why?" Zion asked. "It's just your family."

"_Exactly_," Danny B stressed. "Me from this dimension may have had it made, but when _my_ family found out I was a ghost," he laughed nervously, "it was teenage emancipation for me. They gave me a choice: get out or be dissected. So when I was seventeen I left. After that, even my sister eventually drifted away. I haven't seen them in years." He crossed his arms. "I _can't_ do this."

Sam shot him a look of sympathy, "Just relax. These aren't the same people as your family. They're not going to dissect you-"

Zion gaped at her, "What do you mean dis-"

The door opened a crack, Jazz Fenton's eyes peering out. "You guys are all very sweet but no more fans today, please." There was a beat of silence. Jazz suddenly realized _who_ she was looking at and her eyes widened. She shut the door, undid the deadlock, and stepped onto the doorstep. In her late twenties, Jazz was wearing a brown sweater and teal leggings. She was stunned by the sight of her supposedly dead brother.

"I'm not ready for this," Danny B repeated.

"Danny…" Jazz said softly.

"Hey Jazz…" he rubbed the back of his neck - Danny's nervous tick. "So this is going to sound crazy... but I'm pretty sure that I'm from an-"

"-an alternate dimension," Jazz supplied.

"Yeah," Danny B confirmed.

Jazz hesitantly moved forward and touched his face in awe, letting her fingers trace the face of the brother she just lost. Danny B thoughtlessly absorbed her touch.

"You look tired, Danny," she whispered.

"Well," Danny B sagged, "I _am_ tired."

Jazz noted Danny B's physique, "And older. And… thicker."

"Yeah," he rolled his eyes, "I've heard that already."

Jazz raised a brow, "Oh jeez, are those sweatpants?"

"Yup," Sam interjected. "That's what they are."

Zion felt a lag in the conversation. He really just wanted to tell her… and this was probably his best chance. "I was there…" he took a step towards Jazz. He saw her frown a bit, so he specified, "when it happened, I mean. I am _so_ sorry."

"And what dimension are you from?" she wondered.

"A bit outside Elmerton," he shrugged. He glanced at the computer that Sam was still holding, "Do you… have a place where we can hook that up?"

Jazz nodded, a knowing smile playing on her lips. "Come with me."

Zion and Sam moved towards the house, but Danny B was frozen on the doorstep. Jazz saw the look of fear in his eyes and sighed. "Don't worry. Mom and Dad aren't home yet, so you don't have to worry about being overwhelmed - right now, at least."

Danny B nodded and walked through the threshold into his old house.

* * *

The Fentons' lab was extravagant, shiny technology and state of the art ghost hunting equipment. There was an entire section of the lab devoted to Phantom-related gadgets. There was an entire shelf of various Fenton-thermoses, all with slightly different designs.

Danny B whistled, "Mom and Dad really stepped it up from the last time I was allowed in the lab." He picked up a Bazooka, gauging its weight and setting it back down. "I tried making my own lab once," he mentioned off-handedly. "Mine was like this, but take away all the advanced weapons, the Specter Speeder... imagine it way smaller. Imagine a futon. I feel sad for this guy."

Zion ended up looking at the different thermoses. The surface of the shelf was so glossy that he could make out his reflection. He saw Jazz walking up behind him.

"Danny knew how dangerous the job was," she told him. "But he figured the only one who could stop this guy was Phantom."

Zion shook his head, "The GIW knows we're coming now. They have to. We're going to be outnumbered."

Jazz threw him a suspicious smirk, "Don't be so sure." She fished out at least six 'my name is' stickers from her pocket and placed them in Zion's palm. "You might need these."

At that exclamation, Zion felt his ghost sense go off - his core prickled with static, warning him of more specters - and looked around the lab frantically. The doors to the Fenton Portal opened, and three more figures appeared inside of it. Sam spun around, her fists glowing green at the ready.

"You think you're the only people who thought to come here?" Jazz revealed.

"Hey fellas," the first figure stepped out from the portal into the lab. He was clearly a version of Danny Fenton, with gelled back black-hair and striking blue eyes. His skin was almost grayish, like a walking corpse, and he was wearing a blue sweater vest with black pants. Even though he looked about seventeen, his entire outfit was very dated, like something out of the mid-twentieth century.

"Is he from the fifties or something?" Zion asked.

"Eh, the sixties," the sweater-vest Danny shrugged. "I died about fifty years ago. Look pretty good for a dead guy, right?"

Zion looked to Danny B, who had a similar expression of shock on his face.

The next person, a smaller figure, stepped into the lab. "Hi guys! What's up? Are we gonna fight together and stuff?"

A girl, about half-a-foot shorter than Sam, grinned. She had jet-black hair perfectly crafted into a bun and blue eyes. She was wearing a red polo shirt and plaid skirt, giving her a refined socialite look. She couldn't be more than thirteen-years-old. Like the (full?) ghost before her, she had an uncanny resemblance to Danny Fenton.

"Well," Danny B groaned, "this literally couldn't get any weirder."

"It _can_ get weirder," the last figure groaned. The new guy looked like a regular version of Danny Fenton in his early teens, except that he had black fins on his forearms and talons for nails. "I just washed my hands so that's why my arms look like a lizard," he explained. Zion, Danny B, and Sam stared at him. He rolled his eyes, "I'm half-merman, okay? Water makes me change."

"Okay…" Sam whistled, "that one takes the cake."

"How about you guys each introduce yourselves?" Jazz suggested. "If you're going to be working together after all."

"You can call me Danielle!" the preppy girl said, not missing a beat. "Danielle Masters. I'm a clone of Danny Fenton because my Dad wanted the perfect half-ghost son. Well, now he just has the perfect half-ghost daughter. He gives me everything I want," she bragged. "He teaches me how to fight other ghosts. My original and I, Danny, actually get along well! He doesn't like that I live with Vlad, but… I'm planning to take over his hero duties when he leaves for college in a few years!"

"Wait," sweater-vest Danny interrupted, "are you talking about _Vlad Masters_?"

"Yeah?" Danielle asked. She was met with skeptical looks from everyone but Zion.

"Don't trust that guy," Danny B, Sam, sweater-vest Danny, and merman Danny spoke simultaneously.

"...why not?" Zion looked to the other halfas apprehensively. He'd heard of Vlad Masters - _who hadn't_ \- but what was so bad about that guy? "Isn't he just like, a millionaire?"

Merman Danny scoffed. "In my dimension he's a half-merman who's trying to marry my Mom, kill my Dad, become King of the Merfolk, and enslave humanity with his legion of people-eating merfolk."

"Oh same," Danny B added. "In my world he wanted world domination and to be the Ghost King."

"Me too," Sam added.

Sweater-vest Danny said quietly, "Vlad murdered me because I saw too much. Locked me up for two years before he finally did it. Even as a ghost he still kills anyone that gets too close to the truth. I try to stop him though, expose his crimes… for so many years…." He looked up and cracked a grin, breaking the tension. "I'm not the only one who goes by Danny, right? To keep things clear, you guys can call me Daniel, I guess."

Jazz was the first to speak, "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Daniel."

"Don't worry about it. It's only been fifty years. And I think…" his eyes flicked to Sam for a moment, lingering for a second too long. "I think that it won't be much longer."

"When it comes to Vlad," Danny B advised Danielle, reflecting on Daniel's story, "don't take him for granted."

She sighed, "Nothing that _my_ Danny hasn't told me before."

"Wait," Zion realized. "So is the Vlad Masters in this dimension a ghost?"

"Probably," Sam summed up. "Is there a ghost named Plasmius? Cause that'd be him."

"Oh my-" Zion put it together. Vlad Masters was also a halfa, Plasmius. The same villain that Phantom had been fighting in the abandoned lab the night he died. _It made sense now_.

"What kind of name is _Plasmius_?" Merman Danny snorted.

"I think it's cool," Danielle muttered.

"It sounds like he's trying to make himself more intimidating than he is," Sam observed dryly. "So he picked a vampire-esque name because he's just that pretentious."

"Man, you're... exactly the same," Merman Danny told Sam. "I mean, you're really like the Sam Manson from my dimension. She's one of my close friends. She found out about the whole merperson thing and decided that I was a cool enough mythical creature for her to 'befriend'."

"Sounds like something I'd say," she shrugged lightheartedly. "How does that uh… 'merperson' thing work, anyway?"

"Like how I became like this?" he asked. "Well, I'm - uh… not entirely sure? Vlad said something but I don't know if it's true. From what I know, Dash Baxter pushed me off a boat and then I was saved by a mermaid. She said she was going to do something and I woke up on the beach. Next time I tried to take a shower, the water made my skin turn into scales. Freaked me and my friend Tucker out. Now whenever I fully submerge I get a tail and white hair. I also have hydrokinesis, my 'water mode', telepathy..." he listed. "I don't really like this whole thing, but I guess I'm getting used to it. I'm still not ready to tell my parents though, since they hunt merfolk."

"That's, uh, eccentric," Daniel commented.

"Basically," Merman Danny laughed, "but I guess it turned out that they're not completely crazy. Also, uh… since you pointed out that there's multiple Dannys here, can you guys call me Triton? It's the name I use for my merhalf."

"Triton as in the Greek God?" Sam asked.

"Kinda?" Triton laughed nervously. "I really chose it because it's-"

"-It's Neptune's largest moon!" Danny B and Daniel chimed in.

"Space nerds," Sam accused, smugly.

"Neptune has a moon called Triton?" Danielle's eyes lit up. "That's so _cool_! I really need to study more astronomy."

Jazz sniggered, "Is everyone named Danny obsessed with space?"

Sam crossed her arms, "I wouldn't doubt it." Everyone laughed for a moment before slipping back into silence.

"So we've done our introductions," Daniel pointed out. "But who're you three?" he asked Zion, Danny B, and Sam.

Sam introduced herself first, repeating what she'd told Zion and Danny B. Next, Danny B concluded that he became Phantom; was disowned by his family; dropped out of college; and dedicated his life to protecting Amity Park, working any minimum wage job he could in the meantime.

After his depressing recollection, they all turned for Zion, looking for _his_ story.

"I uh, I'm kinda new to this thing? I just had my accident this week. And actually, uh, I'm kind of the reason that you guys are here? I turned on the portal and that's what sucked you into this dimension." He looked down, leaving out the part that he'd also indirectly killed Phantom. "Sorry."

"Nah," Triton said, "it's fine, dude. We've all made some kind of mistake like that."

"Yeah, don't blame yourself," Danielle added.

"It's not like you made the portal, anyway. The Guys in White built it to go into the Ghost Zone, but instead it just sucked up halfas from other dimensions," Danny B elaborated. "It's _their_ fault for building the portal wrong, not yours for being the one to turn it on."

"Someone was destined to turn it on anyway," Sam pointed out.

_Wow… they were being _really_understanding._

"So, whaddya say that we all work together to close that portal?" Danielle suggested. She made a fist, "Taking down the Guys In White~"

"I'm down," Sam grinned.

"Me too," Danny B, Daniel, and Triton chimed in.

Zion looked all these amazing people, heroes learning and fighting to protect their own cities. A clone that wanted to live up to her original's duties… a ghost that wanted to expose his murderer… a merman who wanted to protect his town and the ocean… an environmentalist who worked with her best-friends to save the day… a worn-hero, cast out from his loved ones and doing his best to save everyone, regardless….

Sure, Zion was new at this, but if these other halfas could do it, then why couldn't he?

"I'll help too," he decided. He would help his new friends get back home, to resume their own stories. And maybe along the way, he'd pick up some more things.


	9. Redesign

**Day Eleven: Redesign**

**Word Count: 1414**

**Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family**

* * *

"Hey son, you got a minute?" Jack asked. The large man was seated at the end of the kitchen table, surrounded by half-broken gadgets, various screwdrivers, and Maddie's crisp new iPad. Jack seemed to have little regard to the fragility of the tablet and was switching between tampering with the wiring on his latest ghost detector device and typing in notes. "I've - uh, been meaning to talk you about this."

At his Dad's voice, Danny cringed. He had almost done it, escaped confrontation today; but his attempts were made futile as Jack heralded him over. Things had been tense since the reveal last week, and even though Jazz was encouraging communication, Danny was still fighting nail and tooth to avoid talking to his parents about Phantom.

He turned from where he had been _about_ to flee up the stairs and trudged back into the kitchen. "What is it, Dad?" he asked with false flippancy. He was reluctant to take a seat beside Jack and stood a good foot away from the table. Even six days after Jack learned that Danny was a ghost, he was back to invention more ghost technology - Danny knew that it was Jack's coping mechanism, but it did little to reassure him that Jack understood how uncomfortable some of his inventions made him.

"Take a seat," Jack gestured, motioning with his left hand and continuing to tinker with his right. "I've had a few ideas that I think you'd like to hear about."

_Uh oh_. Ideas were never good. Especially from someone who was waving around dysfunctional ghost technology.

Danny took a seat beside Jack and carefully eyed a hunk of tech that had been torn open so that its wires spilled outwards onto the table like guts. Jack stayed ignorant to Danny's discomfort and hummed to himself as he finished whatever adjustment he was making to the invention in his hand. With a sloppy flourish, Jack set the invention back on the table next to the others.

"So… what ideas?" Danny found it hard to keep his voice steady, but managed to do so.

"Oh, just some little things!" Jack said. He jerked his arm out and patted Danny's shoulder. Danny fought the itching urge to go intangible - to get out of this man's (his _Dad's_) grip - and only managed to stay corporeal by digging his fingers into the tablecloth. "Stuff to help you with your ghost fighting. Some, er - redesigns to help you with your public image!"

His blood ran cold. "Dad, I don't really know if I feel like talking abou-"

"Here! Look at this!" Jack enthusiastically slid Maddie's iPad in front of Danny. On the screen there was one of those outdated 'one does not simply…' memes. Danny was compelled to roll his eyes but resisted making a witty remark on Jack's behalf.

"Funny," Danny's voice dripped with lackluster mirth. Danny hoped that Jack would pick up on his tone and realize that he wasn't in the mood for this.

Swiftly, Jack glanced between Danny and the screen and laughed. "Oh, sorry! That's the wrong picture. I saw that on the Facebook a while ago and saved it!" He took back the iPad, swiping through the camera roll until he found the correct picture. "_This_ is what I wanted to show you!"

It was a sketch from one of those generic drawing apps. Jack wasn't the worst artist, certainly not the best, but the drawing was clear enough that Danny could tell what it actually depicted (which was much better than any of Jazz's art, but he never said that).

The drawing was of a slim ghost hunter in an orange HAZMAT suit and white boots. Like his parents' suits, the figure had a hood with red goggles that obscured his face. Clipped to his belt there was a Fenton Thermos and one of his parents' more recognizable ectogun prototypes. Danny had to zoom in on the picture, but drawn on the figure's chest was… _his_ symbol.

Danny noted with revulsion that Jack had drawn a picture of Phantom but had taken away every indication (save his logo) that the person in his drawing was supposed to be him. Jack had thought of some 'redesigns' to help his public image, but from what Danny could see, he had stripped away everything that made Phantom look like a ghost. Jack had hidden Phantom's hair and eyes under a hood, given him brighter colors, and provided him with a human ghost hunting weapon instead. In short, Jack had basically drawn his ideal _human_ ghost hunter and given it Phantom's symbol.

Because Jack still wanted Danny - Phantom - to be human, not a ghost.

That… was a lot to unpack. Danny wasn't sure how he should react. He was too afraid to directly address what Jack was hinting at - he'd rather stretch out this ignorance between him and his parents. Because Danny wasn't ready to face their honesty, for them to tell him how much they disliked his ghostly nature.

"What do you think?" Jack asked. "It's just something that I've been playing with. I haven't even shown your Mom yet, I wanted to gauge your opinion first."

"I uh… don't know how I feel about it?" Danny started with a white lie. "I don't know, it just doesn't feel like _me_."

"Yeah…" Jack conceded, "it is a bit different from what you currently had, but everything I changed I did so with good reason!"

Danny sighed. Even though he was scared, he should just speak his mind. "I'm not sure. To me it just feels like you're trying to humanize Phantom too much. Phantom isn't… I'm not… supposed to be human?" The look on Jack's face was unclear, so Danny quickly clarified, "I mean, that's sort of my gimmick? That I'm the good ghost that fights the bad ghosts?"

"I wasn't even thinking of it like that," Jack chuckled. "I was just making changes on what seemed like the most practical to me. I hid your face to hide your identity better, gave you an extra gun for protection, and well… the color change was more self-indulgent than anything. That, and I think Jazz's color psychology thing said that bright colors are more trustworthy! That's what I meant by the public image thing - everybody likes the trustworthy hero, right?"

Danny gulped, "So you didn't make me look like a human ghost hunter because you don't like my… uh, ghostliness?"

"Wha- no! Of course not, Danno. That never came to mind, I'm sorry if I made you feel like that. These past few days… I've just been doing my best to wrap my mind around it. I just figured… that I'd just… ahh, forget it," he cut himself off.

"That you'd just what?" Danny probed. He hadn't expected such solemness from his Dad. His _ghost hunting_ Dad.

"Well, it's not every day you find out your son is an _actual_ superhero. I just wanted to give the whole design thing a shot. Speaking of, I've been meaning to ask how you got that logo onto your suit. I know that the suit is from the accident, but you said that you can't really change outfits, right?"

Danny laughed nervously, "Well… it's kind of a long story." He gave him a vague summary of the events that happened when he lost his memories and Sam recreated the accident.

"Wow!" Jack whistled. "You sure have had a lot of adventures in these past few years, haven't you?"

"It feels like a lot, yeah," Danny agreed.

"I wish I'd known sooner…" Jack lamented, "that way I would've been able to fight at your side! Keep my boy safe from all those ghosts!"

Danny scoffed, "Pft, _you _called _me_ the superhero. You still think I'm the one that needs saving?"

Dad ruffled his hair playfully, "If you need saving from anything it's from all those worried thoughts you have. I love you the way you are, you know that, right?"

"I do," Danny replied, "I just don't think that it had sunken in until now, though…."

"Well, I'm glad we moved past that then!" Dad declared. "If you feel like it, you and I can come up with a new design for your costume together? I know you like what you have, but trust me, I have plenty of ideas that we can use to make your job lots easier!"

"You know what?" Danny grinned, "I may just take you up on that offer."


	10. D&D

**D&D**

**Word Count: 3215**

**Genre: Humor/Friendship**

**I've only played D&D once in eighth grade, but we didn't follow any real rules so I don't count that lol. I hope this at least feels accurate!**

* * *

The last day of the winter semester, Danny was relieved to find out that his Honors Biology final had been cancelled. Their teacher had encountered a family emergency just before the holidays, unable to monitor their graded dissection demonstration. It was a good thing too since Danny had _not_ been looking forward to digging around in fetal pig guts on his last day of school.

The substitute basically told them to do whatever as long as they didn't wake him from his nap. A few kids left, but most of the nerdier kids moved to a corner of the classroom, chatting amiably. Danny, on the other hand, stayed at his desk. Alone. Normally, he shared this class with Tucker, but he had already taken alls his final a few days earlier since he'd left to visit family in Minnesota. Danny wasn't looking forward to telling him the news that the dissection was cancelled - he was going to be _pissed_. Before he left, Tucker had to stay after school, grueling over a sliced open fetus, doing his best to avoid getting spleen juice on his clothing.

_Danny was just grateful that wasn't him._

With nothing else to do, Danny got on his phone. He skimmed his social media accounts and decided that most of it was just the same general bullshit. He sighed, placing his phone face-down on his desk He was so _bored_ and just wanted to go home and play videogames. You know what? Maybe he would sleep, since there was nothing else to do. Besides, he probably needed the rest anyway. For the past few days, the ghosts had been more active as sort of a 'last hurrah' before the annual Truce. Between ghost-fighting and studying for his Geometry final, he'd only gotten about three hours of sleep last night.

Danny set his head down on his desk, using his arms as pseudo pillows. It was only a few seconds before he was out like a light.

… until someone was suddenly nudging his shoulder, prompting him awake. In his tired haze, he moaned something unintelligible and the person receded. How long had it been since he'd put his head down? It didn't feel like much time had passed. Was it the end of class yet?

"Don't bother him," someone hissed. "He actually looks _tired_."

"It's not fun with only two players!" another voice whisper-screamed.

_Fuck it_, he was awake now anyway. Danny raised his head and blinked the sleep out of his eyes. "What?" he asked.

Lester, Mikey, and Nathan were standing beside him. Mikey was fumbling with three jagged-sided dice while Lester and Nathan glared at each other. Realizing that he was awake, Lester broke eye contact with Nathan. Awkwardly, he put his hand on Danny's shoulder. "Do you want to join our campaign?" he blurted.

"Dude," Nathan slapped Lester's hand off of Danny's shoulder. "can you not read social cues?" At Nathan's accusation, Lester adopted a squeamish look.

"It's fine," Danny dismissed, trying to absolve Lester's nervousness. He tilted his head skeptically, "But join your what?"

Lester had said 'campaign'... had he meant running for student council or something? That kind of campaign? Because last Danny checked, that had been months ago and it was much too soon to start planning for next year's election.

"Our campaign," Lester reiterated.

"It's what you call a D&D game," Mikey supplied. "You know, Dungeons and Dragons?"

Oh right… Danny had heard of that. Tucker had tried to get into it when they were in middle school. He'd told Danny about a few games, but could never really immerse himself in fantasy - Tucker was definitely more of a sci-fi geek.

"That's that fantasy role-play thing, right?"

"See!" Lester jabbed Nathan. "I told you that he was nerdy enough to know about it! _One of us_!"

"So… do you want to join?" Nathan asked. "Mikey's the DM, so it'll just be the three of us playing."

The meaning of Nathan's words were lost on him. "I don't really know how to play," he admitted. That, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to accept their offer or not. He _was_ still pretty tired…. Besides, he didn't even know if he'd like it or not.

"That's fine! It's really easy to learn!" Lester declared. "So, you basically make a character for yourself, right? And you get to chose your fighting story and tragic backstory-"

"-it doesn't _have_ to be tragic," Mikey interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah," Lester rolled his eyes. "You chose your own _'__happy_, picture-perfect' backstory, and then all our characters go on an adventure together. Mikey sets up the story and gives us options, and we have to roll a die to get the outcome of that choice! Like if you roll a six-out-of-six, then your decision will be really effective, if you get a one-out-of-six-"

"You're fucked," Nathan summed up.

"Yep, and that's the basics," Mikey agreed.

They were right, that did sound easy; you just made most of everything up. There didn't seem to be any strict rules, so it was simple to just jump into. "I guess I'll give it a shot," Danny decided.

Danny hadn't known what to choose for his character's 'class', so he just chose the first thing that came to mind. "Can I be a ghost?"

Lester and Nathan shrugged and turned to Mikey. The four of them had pushed four desks together in the corner to make one square table. Between them was a worn binder, overflowing with too many papers; five various multi-colored dice; and loose sheets strewn across their makeshift table, character notes and accounts of their past adventures.

"Can he do that?" Nathan asked.

"I mean…" the red-haired boy pondered, "I think that characters _can_ be ghosts in the fifth edition of D&D. This isn't exactly a serious campaign either, so you do you. If you wanna be a ghost, then go for it."

Danny nodded. "Cool."

Lester snorted, "It's kind of ironic. In real life, your parents hunt ghosts and you wanna-" he laughed "-_be a ghost_."

_If only he knew_ how _ironic it was_.

"My parents are always talking about how powerful ghosts are," Danny explained. "Might as well have some fun playing as the other side."

"That's actually hilarious," Nathan said. He leaned forward with a giddy smile, "You should actually tell your parents that you're a ghost and see how they'd react."

"_Pft_," Mikey laughed, "wouldn't they kill him?"

"Not before experimenting," Lester pointed out. "'Whoops my son's a ghost now, gotta melt a homie down…'"

Ignoring the sheer accuracy in their statements (which didn't sting as much as it should have), Danny grinned. "Maybe that's my tragic backstory," he joked. "My parents wanted to catch a ghost so badly that they made me into one." Once again, not a lie; just an extreme exaggeration of the truth.

Everyone laughed at that. Danny realized that he could probably be a good comedian just by telling his life story.

"You know what you should do?" Lester suggested. "You should make yourself the Phantom of our fantasy world! A badass superhero ghost."

Nope! _Too close, too risky._ He forced a chuckle, "I think I'll pass." He paused, and affirmed, "I just want to be a ghost to mess around, not some eternal Batman gig." ...that explanation would probably divert association with his other half.

"So you want to be like a poltergeist, wrecking havoc?" Mikey proposed. He reached for their campaign binder, ready to start a short page of notes about Danny's character.

"Uh, no," Danny corrected. "I'm still a good guy, not 'wreaking havoc'. Just… messing with people, not in a destructive way."

"Got it," Mikey nodded. "And actually, Danny I gotta thank you for this. Because you just gave me a great idea for our next side-adventure."

"Oh, can you give a synopsis?" Nathan asked. He haphazardly leaned back in his seat.

Mikey smirked, "I don't know if you fools are worth sharing the knowledge with."

"Just one spoiler?" Lester playfully shoved Mikey in the arm.

"I'm still _not sure_," Mikey responded, picking up a green and orange, twenty-sided die. He tossed it between his hands for a moment. "But since you _insist_, rowdy bard, I guess I will concede."

Lester rolled his eyes, "Then give me your fucking knowledge, _o'wise_ Dungeon Master."

"Well," Mikey deliberated. "How about summoning the spirit of Danny Phantom?"

Danny almost recoiled in disbelief… they were going to use _him_ (well, his ghost-half) in the story?

"Yes!" Lester cheered.

"Th - that's cool," Danny stuttered. _Holy shit_, this was going to be so weird.

"_That_ is solid," Nathan declared. He paused, thinking for a moment, "But we don't have a necromancer though."

"Well, too bad. We have a ghost, a bard, and a mage; the three of you should be able to come up with something. Now, for your background information…" Mikey pulled an electric pencil from his pocket and started scrawling on a crumpled piece of notebook paper. He used a nearby Biology textbook as a barrier so the party couldn't read his notes. "It all started when Vonriel and Avar met… Danny, what's your character's name?"

"Uh…" Danny was taken off-guard. He already wasn't off to a good start with this 'decision making' game. "I don't know. Uh… Ganymede?" Ganymede was the largest moon in the Solar System, Jupiter's biggest satellite. Space trivia was one thing he could always count on.

"_Nice_," Lester amended. "That sounds _raw_."

"So," Mikey continued, "one day Vonriel and Avar met Ganymede, a recently deceased ghost…."

* * *

"...the merchant refuses to give you directions to where to buy an enchanted raven's feather," Mikey determined.

They'd been playing for at least forty minutes now, with only fifteen minutes left in class. In that time, their characters Vonriel, Avar, and Ganymede began a quest to go summon the ghostly warrior, Phantom, so that he could teach Ganymede how to harness his ghostly abilities. In order to summon Phantom, they had to run a bunch of errands to collect the proper summon materials. At first, Danny had assumed it would be tedious, until the stakes were raised and they had to fight off monsters in order to steal the ingredients. Probability-oriented creative decision making was a _lot_ more fun than he initially expected.

Especially when the goal of the game was to summon himself in order to teach himself how to control his powers… _that didn't even make sense_.

"What? Why?" Danny demanded. "I rolled an eight out of ten!"

"Yeah, but you needed at least a nine for charisma," Mikey tsked. "Now the party has to find a raven, then Avar can enchant it himself-"

"If I don't completely screw it up," Nathan groaned.

"-and if you guys do that, then you've collected all the materials! Now, Vonriel, should the party look for a raven in the Autumnsor Grove, a nearby forest lurking with unknown dangers and dark magic; or the Notshall Expanse, a far valley full of placid wildlife and woodland creatures?"

Lester laughed, "Autumnsor, no question about it."

Mikey made a note of the decision and continued, "The party has embarked to the Autumnsor Grove in search of a raven. Upon your arrival, you see three pathways. One pathway leads towards a clear-cut path, lit with crystalline orbs of light; the second path is tangled with tree roots and has eerie red eyes lurking behind bushes; the last path is dark and pathed with green stones, littered with skeletons beside the path. Avar, what do you chose?"

"Uh…" Nathan thought, "the orb path?"

"Ugh," Lester complained, "stop making boring choices."

Mikey placed a four-sided die in front of Nathan. "Roll." He shook the die between his hands and rolled a three. Mikey made another note.

"You go down the path with the lights," Mikey recited. "You have no major troubles until the mysterious lights swarm Ganymede, attracted to your spiritual energy. What do you do?" Mikey turned to Danny.

Danny had been bullshitting his way through the game by thinking of whatever he would do as Phantom. "Are the orbs solid?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I go intangible and they don't bother me anymore," Danny answered. They'd established that he could use his powers scarcelessly. He could go invisible, intangible, and use his ectoblasts - that was about it.

"Roll a ten-sided," Mikey passed the die to him. Danny rolled and got a five.

"You manage to go intangible, but the orbs are stilling following you, blinding you in your face. Their light is so bright that you can't see."

"Can I just stay blind?" Danny wondered.

"Whatever floats your boat dude," Lester shrugged.

"You can't walk down the path while you're being blinded," Mikey told him. "You can go tangible again and Avar and Vonriel can steer you down the path."

"Okay, I'll be tangible again, then."

"Wait, I didn't agree to that!" Lester protested. "I say let him trip."

"_Thanks_ Lester," Danny cocked lopsided a grin.

"Okay," Mikey resumed, a bit irritable, "Avar helps Ganymede down the path. While Avar is focused on supporting Ganymede, Vonriel spots a raven up in a darkwood tree. What do you do Vonriel, and remember, all you need is a feather."

"I yeet my rapier at it and kill it," Lester smiled ferally. "It falls from the tree into my arms and I yank those feathers out."

Nathan mockingly applauded, "Our _finest_ strategist, everyone."

Mikey gave Lester a twenty-sided die; he rolled a solid nineteen.

Lester laughed wildly, attracting the attention of some of their other classmates, who were studying back at their desks. "Holy shit, _yes_!"

Danny was honestly surprised that he managed to get a near-perfect score. Mikey recounted how Vonriel struck the bird out of the tree, dealing a certain amount of damage. They plucked the feathers from the bird and stored them in Avar's pouch. Then, their characters left the woods and returned to town. There, Avar managed to enchant the feather (it took Nathan two tries to actually perfect the enchantment) and they had their final ingredient.

Their party gathered all the summoning materials together, amassing the fictional prizes that they had acclaimed in the past fifty minutes. Mikey announced that they each needed to roll a twenty-sided die to determine how effective the summoning would be. First, Lester rolled a seventeen out of twenty. Nathan rolled an eleven out of twenty, not bad but not necessarily good. Finally, Danny clasped the die and rolled it onto the tabletop, waiting with anticipated breath as it landed on… a _four_. Shit.

Mikey frantically scribbled down their score in his notes. "The ritual was a partial success. The celestial candles extinguish once you finish your incantations, leaving you in darkness. In the middle of your triangle, a white light appears and begins to take form. It's Phantom, or at least it looks like him at first. The form of white light splits and you realize that instead of Phantom, you summoned two ghosts: Phantom, and a malevolent spirit. The malevolent spirit… the uh… _Box Ghost_ breaks away from Phantom. He lashes out and burns Avar's forearm, leaving a blister the size of a fist. The Box Ghost turns on Ganymede and is able to deal more damage since you are both ghosts. The Box Ghost strikes Ganymede in the stomach, causing him to bleed… what's ghost blood called?"

"Ectoplasm," Danny supplied.

"Box Ghost causes Ganymede to bleed ectoplasm, dealing four damage. Phantom is momentarily incapacitated, disoriented from the summoning. The Box Ghost flies above your party, summoning crates of dangerous explosives-"

"-he can _do_ that?" Nathan protested.

"He controls boxes, so yeah," Danny pointed. "Luckily, the real Box Ghost hasn't tried that yet. Otherwise I - Phantom'd have to deal with a lot more damage," he caught his slip-up.

"_Ahem_," Mikey interrupted. "As I was saying, the Box Ghost summons crates of explosives! Vonriel, Ganymede and Avar are wounded and the Box Ghost is a looming threat. And Phantom is still confused from the summoning, so he's unfortunately useless right now. What-"

Mikey was cut off by the bell, indicating that class was officially over. The four of them looked to each other in panic, having lost a firm grasp of the time. They should've started wrapping the game up at least five minutes ago, but they were _so_ close to summoning Phantom that they disregarded ending. The dice were scattered over the tabletop, disorganized papers everywhere, and _where the hell was the binder_?

"_Shit_," Lester swore. He clamored for the dice, collecting as many of them as possible. Instead, he managed to knock over the textbook that Mikey had propped up for concealing his notes. The Biology textbook landed on Lester's hand and he dropped all the dice at once; bouncing off the linoleum floor, they rolled in every direction.

"_Double_ shit," Nathan repeated.

"I got the papers," Mikey nodded. "You guys get the dice. I _can't_ be late for my English final-"

"-and I can't miss AP Government!" Lester hissed back.

Danny frantically tried to help the other guys collect all the dice. It was especially hard since their other classmates were filtering out of the classroom, apathetically stepping over the dice. It was difficult to grab them when people didn't care whether or not they stepped on your hand. Everyone was in a hurry to make it to their next exam, after all.

Danny chased after the eight-sided die. It had bounced across the floor and had gotten wedged underneath a desk. Danny got on his knees and tried to get it out, but he couldn't move his arm at a good enough angle to grab it. So, in a reckless burst of desperation, Danny phased his hand through the bottom rung of the desk where the die had gotten stuck. He managed to retrieve the die and quickly pocketed it. Looking around, he realized that Lester and Nathan had already managed to gather up the other five rogue dice.

He returned to their corner of the classroom and passed the die to Lester… who was looking at him oddly. Danny brushed off the weird look and helped grab some of the sheets that Mikey had neglected in his frenzy. Moments later, Lester broke out of his stupor and finished packing up the dice. Everything was officially wrapped up.

"Thanks for teaching me the game!" Danny said shortly, "It was fun!" Not wanting to be late, Danny threw his backpack over his shoulder and bolted for the door. He didn't realize that Lester hadn't stopped watching him strangely. Or that when he phased his hand through the desk, he had never looked behind him...

Back in the classroom, Nathan nudged Lester. "What's your deal, dude?"

Lester hadn't moved since Danny had left, even though he was severely running late to AP Government. "Nothing," he shook his head. "I just thought I saw… It doesn't matter."

He grabbed his own backpack and left the classroom. Nathan shrugged, none the wiser. Though, Lester was starting to suspect that Danny's character class wasn't exactly as hilarious as he had initially chalked it up to be. After what he'd seen with Danny's hand and the die, it felt like… there was something _more_ there. Something beyond their fictions of Dungeons and Dragons.


	11. Alternate Ending

**Day Fifteen: Alternate Ending**

**Word Count: 3769**

**Genre: Family**

* * *

Inside the house, the lights flashed dangerously as the entire building began to shake. Technus had infiltrated the mainframe; nothing in FentonWorks was safe anymore until the ghostly threat was neutralized. Jack, Maddie, Tucker, Sam, and Phantom ran through the living room, stepping around furniture and making a beeline for the front door. If this wasn't a life-threatening situation, Jack probably would've taken a shot at Phantom right then. After all, it was probably the specter's fault that Technus was there in the first place! But now he had to get he, his wife, and the kids somewhere safe.

They poured out into the street, towards Technus. The house wasn't safe, but if they could eliminate him while he was outside… then everything might resolve itself. Right now, Technus was making a lot of raucous on the roof, sounds of fizzling ectoblasts and tearing wires resounding from above.

Before Jack could make a plan with Maddie, she froze. "Wait," she counted heads in their group, realizing that they had lost someone. She did little to filter the panic in her voice, "Where's Danny?"

_Danny_. Danny had been in the lab with them minutes earlier when Technus had taken control, but he had seemingly disappeared behind Jack's back. He must still be in the lab! He made eye contact with Maddie, on the verge of (further) panic. And then, there was a loud impact several feet away; the sound of concrete cracking under immense force and a piercing scream. Jack spun again, distracted by the sudden collision.

Jack had just enough time to see Phantom picking himself out of the crater that was now in the street. Technus cackled as he flew down and engaged the befuddled ghost-boy in combat. But how had Phantom moved so fast? From the look of it, Phantom had been thrown into the street from above, so how had he moved from the doorstep to the roof in such little time?

"I'm right here, Mother!" Danny announced boldy, behind Jack. Wait… Danny? Jack turned back and found Danny standing where Phantom had been seconds earlier. Danny's chest was puffed out, his arms placed firmly on his hips. How had he gotten there though? Danny had definitely not been there before, instead, Phantom had arrogantly stood there.

Jack called him out on it, "Wait a minute, weren't you just-?"

"Mom, Dad? Danny, _Other_ Danny!" Jazz cried. Jack looked up and felt his stomach _sink _when he realized that Jazzypants was still instead the house. The house that had been forfeited by that technology ghost! She was leaning out of her window, waving her arms around frantically.

Jack's paternal concern overwhelmed his momentary suspicion; _his_ Jazz was in danger! Whatever was strange about Danny and Phantom right now could wait. He had to save his daughter. Maddie reached the same conclusion and the two of them stormed back inside the house, going back for Jazz.

* * *

Phantom ultimately ended up resolving their problem with Technus. In other words, the ghost child had cleaned up his own little mess in his little ploy to convince Amity Park he was the 'hero'. It irritated Jack, but there was nothing he could do about it other than be vigilant and wait for Phantom to slip up. It would happen eventually and he would prove to everyone what a nasty manipulator Phantom was.

Speaking of manipulation… as Jack tried to drift off that same night, his mind kept wandering. His train of thought kept returning to the same moment, that moment where nothing really felt _right_. When he had turned for just a moment, and Danny inexplicably replaced Phantom. Even though it wasn't significant, it kept nagging at him. There was a quiet voice in the back of his mind, whispering '_don't let this go' _and Jack was prisoner to its whims.

First of all, it was illogical in the first place how Phantom had moved from the doorstep to the roof in an instant. But before Phantom had disappeared, Danny hadn't been anywhere in the vicinity. Was it possible that Phantom had been able to fly inside the house, get Danny, and then fly up to the roof to fight Technus? So how had he moved so impossibly fast? Did Phantom have some kind temporal powers that allowed him to stop or slow down time? No, no that couldn't be it; Jack had never seen him use those powers, and even if Phantom could control time it completely disrupted the entire _theme_ of his abilities.

There was also the possibility that it had been an illusion. The Danny that had stood on the doorway hadn't seemed like the real Danny. Maybe Phantom could create illusions and had been on the roof the entire time, sending an illusion of himself to follow their little group out of the house. Once Maddie pointed out that Danny wasn't there, Phantom transformed his illusion into a mirage of Danny. But that… that didn't seem likely. For one, _why_ would Phantom do that in the first place? To distract them? Messing with ghost hunters was something that Phantom would do, but it didn't make sense why he would use that method.

So, maybe instead of focusing on Phantom, Jack should be investigating Danny. He couldn't make sense of the ghost boy, so maybe he'd have more luck with Dannyboy. For one, here had been something off about his son… his entire presence had been out-of-character, and his eyes… had they been _green_? If that were the case, Jack would be inclined to believe that Danny was overshadowed, but that didn't add up either. If Phantom had been overshadowing Danny, he wouldn't have been able to be fighting Technus at the same time! So why had Danny been acting strange, and what had he done _after_ he seemingly replaced Phantom?

From what Jack could recall, he didn't see Danny again until the fight was over. After he had left to go save Jazz, Technus made their house pick itself up and walk (yes, _walk_) to the nearest shore. They managed to move the house back by mimicking Technus's technology, but before that… he'd found Danny, Sam, and Tucker on the roof. However, by then Danny had been acting normal.

So what had happened between the time Danny appeared at the doorstep and had somehow gone up to the roof. Jack knew for a fact that Danny couldn't have followed him back into the house and gone up to the roof that way, so he must've either scaled the entire house from the outside (an impossible feat) or gotten help from a ghost. And the only ghost that could've helped him was Phantom! So Phantom had flown Danny up to the roof, but why? Maybe Phantom thought it was too dangerous for any humans to stay on the ground while Technus was moving their house? But why would Phantom pull them into the fray inside of moving them to safety if he was insistent on maintaining his 'selfless hero' guise?

Was it possible that Phantom was working with Danny and his friends? That'd also shed more light on how they were able to pull that replacement act earlier. Although, Jack thought he knew his son, though. For instance, Jack had always told his children _never_ to cooperate with ghosts! But like the rest of Amity Park they'd been suckered into believing Phantom's heroism. And now that he thought about it, this wasn't the only incident where Danny and Phantom seemed to be on the same page. Yesterday, when Jack had tried to get Danny to shoot Phantom at the amusement park, it was like Danny purposely missed! How far did this allegiance run, how much had Phantom manipulated his son?

Jack didn't know if he'd be able to sleep without knowing. Now that he had picked open that scab, festering and aching, he needed something to bandage it; he needed relief for this revelation otherwise he might keep picking at it, leaving a scar.

In the darkness of his bedroom, the Fenton'O'Matic Alarm Clock glowed like a green beacon. It was roughly half past one'o'clock. Beside him, Maddie slept soundly, breathing rhythmically and ignorant to Jack's worries about Danny. He'd leave her out of this for now, let her rest. Because first, he needed to talk to Danny about this. He needed to confront his son about his evident loyalty to Phantom and insist that it couldn't continue. Because whatever had happened today, that _switching_, hadn't been good.

Jack stopped outside of Danny's bedroom. He really didn't want to wake his son up, especially given how little sleep he had been getting lately (something else to attest to Phantom or just coincidence?), but Jack _needed_ to know _now_. Maybe that was selfish, but overall he was really just concerned for his family.

So, he braced himself and crossed that line. He opened Danny's bedroom door and maneuvered himself inside, his head barely grazing the top of the doorframe. It was dark in Danny's room, so Jack did his best not to bump into any desk corners or trip over dirty clothes. However, when Jack got close enough to Danny's bed, he realized something startling.

Danny wasn't there. At 1:30am, Danny was _not_ in his room… which could not be a good sign. Jack had passed the bathroom on the way to Danny's room and the door had been wide open, _empty_, so that eliminated that possibility. And judging by the water bottle on Danny's nightstand, it also wasn't likely he had woken up for a glass of water….

_What do I do now?_ he wondered. Should he wait for Danny to come back, should he go out and look for him, should he wake up Maddie… should he go down to the weapons vault? Knowing what he knew now, Jack realized that Danny's venture out into the night was probably the fault of Phantom. Whether it was consensual or not, Jack was going to _dismember_ that ghost for convening Danny in the middle of the night. Jack slipped into a bitter fantasy, conceiving scenarios where he gave Phantom a piece of his mind - and his improved Fenton-Peeler.

After a few minutes or so, Jack shook him out of his daydream and got back on track. What should he do? As he weighed his options, there were footsteps slowly and carefully ascending the stairs. Jack froze, entranced by the sound of the wood groaning under someone's weight - _Danny's_ weight. After a moment, Danny slowly stumbled into view - loose pajamas, scruffy hair, and a glass of orange juice.

_Well, maybe Jack had been mistaken._ Perhaps the orange juice meant that Phantom wasn't involved!

Danny walked through the doorway and stopped. He didn't flinch or scream - the normal reaction when one found someone in their dark bedroom at 1am. Instead, Danny just looked at him skeptically, "Why are you in my room, Dad?"

The prompt question caught him off-guard. "I um, I well…" Jack didn't know how to explain it. With no excuses coming to mind, Jack decided to be frank with his son. And that meant he had to play the role of the strict parent. "Danny," he said seriously, doing his best to convey genuine austerity, "I know about Phantom."

Danny stiffened, his eyes misting over for a moment. His grip on his glass of orange juice tightened, but otherwise his facial expression remained neutral. "What."

Jack repeated himself. There was nothing for a few seconds before Danny blinked about five times and took a long sip of orange juice. He blankly walked past Jack, put his orange juice on his nightstand, turned on his lamp, and collapsed onto his bed. "What are you talking about? _What_ do you know about Phantom?" On his bed, he was sitting learning the wall, keeping several feet between he and Jack. Even though he was upholding a calm facade, his eyes flitted between Jack and the window, as if he would have to make a sudden escape.

Jack didn't like how scared his son looked. Maybe… he should tone down the strictness. But then again, Danny should know better than to associate with ghosts. Jack had to drill that in his head, whether Danny liked it or not.

"It was earlier today," Jack started. "I saw you, well, _switch_ when we were in front of the house together. It was confusing me until I put two and two together. That you and Phantom are…" Jack didn't want to say _friends_. Calling Phantom anybody's friend felt wrong. So he shrugged uncomfortably, "_you know_."

Danny recoiled back, subconsciously looking for a way to put more space between him and Jack - but he was already against the wall, so there was none. "Oh God," he squinted his eyes shut. Danny's breathing accelerated, and he looked like he was having a difficult time staying calm. "I can barely… barely remember that after the split. But that wasn't exactly subtle, was it? Of course I'd screw up - and now… now you _know_." His opened his eyes and they were saucers, wavering under Jack's apprehension.

"Just…" Jack sighed -_man_, Danny was making this hard by looking so scared - "tell me how it happened, son."

Danny gulped, "Promise me you won't get mad."

"At you?" Jack shook his head. "No. Not at you. I'm just a little… _frustrated_ that you disobeyed us. But I don't believe it's your fault." _Because it's _his_fault_. After this was over, Jack was tearing Phantom a new one.

Danny seemed to relax a but, but he was still frighteningly tense. "Well," he recalled, "it was at the beginning of this school year. We - Sam, Tuck, and I - were down in the lab with the unfinished portal." Jack remembered this! Danny was recounting the day the portal had turned on. Had they really been working with Phantom since then?

"I went inside and pressed a button. It… _shocked _me and I guess I…" he trailed off. Danny shook his head dismissively. "You get it. And when I woke up, Sam and Tucker were freaking out. I freaked out before managing to turn to normal. I didn't have any control at first and I wanted to tell you _so bad_ but I was also scared. After a while, I decided to fight ghosts and all that stuff with the mayor happened and I just… couldn't tell you anymore."

Danny's phrasing was weird, but he got the general gist of Danny's explanation. Phantom had been there after Danny had activated the portal and must've decided to follow Danny, Sam, and Tucker around. They couldn't get rid of him but eventually just… tolerated him. Until he coerced them into assisting his 'hero gig'. Knowing Danny, it probably took a while for Phantom to win the children over, so that left another possibility.

"So does he threaten you?" Jack assessed. "Is that why you were so scared? And had no control?"

Danny gave Jack a quizzical look. "What do you mean? _Who_ threatens me?" Danny tilted his head, laughing nervously, "I uh… kinda have a lot of enemies if you haven't noticed, Dad."

"Phantom," Jack deadpanned. Danny raised a brow, expressing even more confusion. Jack immediately felt like he had missed something. They were… on the same page, weren't they?

"H - how would Phantom threaten _me_?" Danny questioned. "You… do realize that we're the same-" he cut himself off. His eyes widened in stark realization, "Oh geez, you don't even know. Do you?"

Jack was lost. "That you and Phantom are working together?"

Danny laughed, but he looked like he wanted to cry. He took another swig of orange juice and put his head in his hands. When he spoke, his voice was muffled, "_Ancients_, this is such a fucking mess."

Red flags flared in Jack's mind. "_Language_, young man," he chastised.

Danny laughed even more desperately and Jack was tempted to just grab Danny by the shoulders and make him sit upright, to explain everything. From Danny's reaction, it was clear that Danny didn't _think_ he and Phantom were working together. So what had he meant by that explanation earlier? None of it made any sense! Again!

"Son…" Jack asked slowly. "What's really going on?"

Danny eventually stopped laughing and shook his head. "I can't tell you," he denied. "You don't _want_ to know."

_Bullshit_. This was something that was severely affecting Danny's life; of course Jack wanted - _needed_ \- know. It had something to do with Phantom, he knew that much. But what was it? If they weren't working together, then how else was Phantom involved? Hell, in Danny's explanation earlier, he hadn't even mentioned Phantom! He had said '_I_ freaked out before managing to turn to normal... _I_ didn't have any control…_I_ decided to fight ghosts….'

Danny decided to fight ghosts. He didn't mention anything about Phantom pressuring him to assist with anything. He had said that it was _his_ independent choice to _fight_ ghosts. And earlier, Danny had replaced where Phantom had been seconds earlier. But what if… what if Phantom hadn't even been there at all? It sounded ludicrous, but what if Phantom was just-

'_We're the same._'

-Danny?

Was Phantom Danny?

But that _still_ didn't make sense. Danny had been on the doorstep while Phantom was still fighting Technus - so how could they be the same person? Jack was just jumping to conclusions again! That _must_ be it. Yeah… it wasn't like they looked similar either! Because to be the same person, they at least had to have some physical similarities. Danny had black hair, Phantom had white! Not to mention that Danny's height, facial structure, and voice weren't at all like - wait. Jack thought for a moment, conjuring a mental image of Danny and Phantom side by side. _Shit_. Okay, nevermind. They really did look a lot alike. Enough alike that there was no doubt; they _had_ to be the same.

"_You_ are Phantom," he put together. "And Phantom is you."

Danny winced. "No?" It was a weak lie, a last-ditch attempt at salvaging his secret. They both knew the truth now and knew that Jack wouldn't be swayed.

"What other explanations are there?" Jack challenged.

He fell silent. He kept his eyes trained on the carpet. "I'm sorry, Dad," he admitted. "I didn't want any of it to be like this. I never wanted-" he choked, "-to be a _ghost_. But we couldn't reverse it. I can… change between my human form - I'm alive, I swear! - ...and my ghost form, but there's no getting rid of Phantom. Not completely anyway. I learned that today with the Ghost Catcher," he said bitterly. "Tried splitting myself and it was awful. I was two places at once, but I was still a little ghost and a little human in either form. _Not_ trying that again."

Jack didn't know what to say, how to respond. Danny… _was_ Phantom. And now that he explained, it made sense why there had been two of himself that day - he'd physically torn himself apart into two different versions of himself. Because from what he was describing, he was supposedly a hybrid. His… ghostly attributes carried over to his human side and vice versa. The portal changed him irreversibly and now he had to live these two… half-lives.

Here was his son, who was always caring condemned to a second existence - of being a creature undefinable by nature (simultaneously acquainted with both death and life), an elusive hero who occasionally mistakes. And like a fool, Jack had pegged him for any typical old specter - believing him to be deceitful. But if there was anything that Jack had noticed in the past year, it was that Danny hadn't changed emotionally, morally - in fact, Danny's humanity was probably more in-line than Jack's own. Jack had made many, many mistakes disregarding Phantom's actions for this town, even if he was a ghost. And he should've recognized that earlier.

He was so overwhelmed by this revelation and his own regret that Jack couldn't think of a thing to say. Danny took Jack's silence to be a bad think and began apoglizing.

"I'm sorry that I started rambling," he muttered. "You… you probably hate me now, don't you? I'm sorry that I… I have to be such a fr - _disappointment_. If you don't want me here… I'm sorry… I'll just leave."

There were tears in Danny's eyes and suddenly the intangible clamp on Jack's tongue snapped. "That's not the case, Danno! I'm - I'm just surprised. This is… this is _okay_. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around it, since I'd thought I'd came to the correct solution already. Guess I missed a step, ha _ha._" Who said _'__ha ha'_? Who really said that out loud, like _that_?

"You don't… mind that I'm pretty much the bane of your existence, the ghost you want to 'strap down and rip apart molecule by molecule'?" Danny asked, shocked.

Jack inhaled sharply. In retrospect, that had been a very graphic description that he never should have had shared with the family. He didn't feel that way now, for sure. The idea of it was actually horrific. "I more than mind," Jack whispered. "I love you Danno, ghost, boy, or something in between. _I'm_ sorry it's taken me this long to figure out that you aren't… aren't a bad ghost. You're my son and it's on me for making you feel like you had to hide this part of yourself, to be afraid to confront your Mom and I. We didn't make it easy, did we?"

Danny sighed, "Well, it's not _all_ on you. I have had chances…. Besides some of the stuff I've done is questionable out of context," he pointed out.

Jack looked at the clock. It was almost two'o'clock now. Time didn't matter though, what mattered was _now_. "How about you tell me about that, then?" he asked. "You can give me some more insight about what it's been like for you these past months. So I can understand more," he clarified.

Danny hesitated for a moment. And then, he pulled himself from the wall and scooted over, leaving enough room for Jack to also sit on his bed. "I think that would be alright," he agreed. "Where do you want to start?"

Jack carefully lowered himself onto Danny's bed, his weight causing the mattress to sag unevenly. He faced Danny. The space between them was still tense, but they were working that part out. "Well, how about why you split yourself with the Ghost Catcher today?"

He laughed nervously, "Uh, you see… _funny story_…."


	12. Séance

**Day Seventeen/Eighteen: Seance/Favorite Character**

**Word Count: 2504**

**Genre: Humor**

* * *

"I feel like an eleven year old at my first slumber party," Alivia deadpanned.

Cory swung around and laughed, "Well, don't we all? _Ooooo_, summoning ghosts!" She grabbed the last bowl of popcorn and placed it on the table. They were in her dorm room, and she had provided most of the snacks.

"I'm nineteen," Raquel added, "this shouldn't be something I'm actually doing, but you know what? Whatever," she shrugged, pulling out her chair and sitting beside Jazz, who was already seated.

Between the four of them, it had been Jazz's idea to have a 'séance'. It'd been a spontaneous idea that stemmed from a conversation about their favorite movie tropes - as soon as Jazz suggested it, Cory and Raquel jumped on board immediately. Alivia was a bit skeptical, but since her other three roommates were participating, she didn't have the courage to 'wimp out'. Not that Alivia believed in the supernatural anyway, unlike Jazz and Raquel. Cory was on the fence of belief, but was excited either way.

Who knew that after getting into an Ivy League college they'd be spending their nights playing with a children's Ouija board from Target?

"_So_," Cory turned to Jazz, clutching a handful of popcorn, "you've done this before?"

"Once or twice," Jazz replied cooly. "I _am_ from the most haunted town in America."

"Like that means anything other than that you're from a tourist trap," Alivia pointed out.

Jazz smiled, "I think you'd be surprised. I used to think it was all fake too, but… I've had my fair share of _encounters_."

Raquel snorted. "Never thought I'd live to see the day when poor, studious Jazz Fenton spoke like an old fortune teller. What's next, tarot cards?" she joked.

"Who knows?" Jazz shrugged. "Those could be real too. At this point I'll believe anything, sadly enough."

"You're right," Alicia said, "that _is_ sad. Buuutt, I'll humor you with this séance thing anyway."

"So-" Cory said, with a mouthful of food, "-how do we do - this talking to ghosts thing?"

"I think someone uses the slidy-thingy and asks ghosts to show up," Raquel replied. "At least, that's what the instructions say, anyway."

"Well, I'm not doing it," Alivia opted out.

Cory swallowed her last bite of popcorn and grinned. "I wanna do it!" she volunteered.

"Aw, I wanted to do it," Raquel complained.

"You don't even know what you're doing," Cory pointed out.

Raquel crossed her arms, "Neither do you."

"Can you guys, like not argue?" Alivia interrupted. "Since none of us but Jazz have done this before, I think she should do it."

"I kind of did want to," Jazz admitted. "For nostalgia's sake."

"Okay, then it's settled," Alivia decided. "Jazz is doing it since both of you insist on arguing like children."

"We _are_ playing a children's game," Cory defended.

"Since when is having a séance a children's game?" Raquel asked, bewildered.

Cory pointed to the Ouija board box, "It says eight and up!"

"That's… a bit concerning," Alivia frowned. "I mean not that it's dangerous, but summoning ghosts shouldn't be something marketed towards kids…."

Jazz laughed, "Not for my childhood."

"_You_ don't count," Alivia countered. "Ms. 'Haunted-est Town in America'."

"You said you've had encounters, but have you ever really seen a ghost, Jazz?" Cory wondered.

"Plenty. One practically lived in my house," she smiled as if she knew something they didn't. "He could be annoying, but I guess I'm fond of him."

"Really?" Cory asked, interested. "What did he do?"

"Cory, don't listen. She's just pulling your chain - everyone in tourist towns tend to exaggerate."

"Are you comparing me to the greedy con men who glorify every single tree to rake in cash?" Jazz was humored. She leaned forward and opened the pack of Twizzlers that Cory had yet devoured. "To answer your question, Cory, he was mainly a good ghost. Phased through my wall, woke me up in the middle of the night for… things. Sometimes I'd help him with ghost things, too. I hope he's doing well with ou - ghost hunters... now that I'm gone."

"Sounds like your mystery ghost was a lot more than just a dude that hung around your house," Raquel wiggled her eyebrows.

"Ew! Gross, no!"

"Come on Jazz," Alivia got on board, "if you're going to make up things, don't tell us the beginning of some cheesy paranormal love-story-"

"-it's not like-"

"If that was a love-story I would totally watch it. Well, mainly to watch Jazz act like a dumb lovestruck teenager," Cory laughed.

"You guys are _awful_," Jazz declared.

"And that's why you're your friends!" Raquel said. "Someone has to tease you with all that boring studying you do."

"I can't help that school is my first priority," Jazz rolled her eyes. "Can I start the séance already?"

"You prefer ghosts to your friends' light-hearted jokes," Cory smirked. "_Coward_."

"I'll accept cowardice," Jazz shrugged. "If it'll shut you up."

"_Ooooooh,_" Raquel put her hand over her heart. "That _hurt_."

"So are we finally starting this or are you guys going to _keep_ interrupting?" Alivia asked.

"We're starting," Cory took the Ouija board out of its box and evenly spread it on the table. She flipped through the instruction pamphlet and started reading. "Okay, first it advises not to play alone: check. Second, it works better if there's an atmosphere, so we gotta turn off the lights."

"I got it," Raquel stood up. She switched off the lights and the room was obscured in darkness, leaving only a vague glow from the door outside Cory's dorm.

"Nice and spooky," Cory grinned. "Okay, _next…_ blah-blah-blah safety precautions… it says to chose one 'medium', which is Jazz. We can all ask questions, but she's the only one who can directly speak to the spirit. Then we all have to hold onto the planchette thing as it moves around the board. We're not supposed to let go until the 'session' is done."

Alivia pulled out the planchette from the box and placed it in front of Jazz. Everyone else tentatively placed their fingers on the thin, wooden heart. "Now, the medium has to announce that this session will only allow positive energies - _aw,_ where's the fun in that?" Cory wondered.

"You wanna get killed like we're in a bad slasher film?" Raquel questioned.

Cory looked up from where she was holding the pamphlet with her free hand, "I will _let_ Freddy Krueger kill me, thank you very much."

"Okay, as the medium for this session I declare that tonight we will only be allowing positive energies," Jazz recited. "Now…" she chose her words carefully, "is there a _Phantom_ present?"

Alivia fake coughed, "_Melodramatic_."

The planchette began to move. Everyone held their breath as the planchette slowly pulled it's way towards the corner of the board. It passed the letters and stopped over the word 'No'. "Well," Jazz asked. "Can there be?"

"Uh, Jazz," Cory said, "you said you know how to do this, right? That's not what the instructions say-"

"I've done this before. I'm just testing something out," she nodded. She closed her eyes and tilted her head up, "Phantom, _can_ you be here?"

"Jazz, really-"

The planchette drifted under their fingertips, moving towards the letters of the ouija board. It kept moving until it stopped at 'J', then a moment later it drifted over to 'A', then 'Z'. And it stopped.

"Did it just spell your name?" Raquel whispered. "How does it know your name?"

"Come on guys, clearly we're the ones who are moving it-" Alivia reasoned.

"Quiet," Jazz hushed. In the dark, her friends could make out her hair moving as if a wind was running through it. Except, there was no real wind in the dorm room; just the faint circulation of air running through the vents on the other side of Cory's bed. This was suddenly a _lot_ more unnerving than they had anticipated.

"I'm scared," Raquel whimpered. Always the scaredy cat of the group.

"She said _hush,_" Cory hissed in response.

"Phantom," Jazz repeated, "come to us. I call on you from your grave, the portal beneath your bedroom, Amity Park."

At her words, the room seemed to grow heavier. It wasn't anything physical, but the energy in their atmosphere seemed to grow darker - shadows in the corner that seemed to crawl up the walls, slinking and curling. Something in each of their stomachs dropped, an unsettling emotion that caressed their souls unpleasantly. The feeling ceased for a moment, before growing and growing gradually again.

At these sensations, Jazz's friends erupted.

"Jazz," Raquel glared, "what the FUCK-"

"That is _not_ in the instructions what are you doing-"

"-_is _this feeling? Not good-"

"-can't believe you're turning this into your tourist-town bull-" Alivia was cut off.

"Shh!" Jazz silenced them. "Phantom," she repeated once more. "I summon you. _Come_."

As the energy continued to fluctuate, the temperature suddenly plummeted. In a matter of seconds, it dropped twenty degrees, leaving all the girls shivering at the unexpected drop. Just continued to stare straight, headstrong - she had expected this phenomenon. Oddly enough this eeriness reminded her of home. Her new friends on the other hand….

"This isn't funny anymore, Jazz!" Raquel squirmed in her chair. "I swear, I _will_ take my hand off-"

"NO!" Cory yelled. "If you do that, whatever ghosts are here could attach themselves to us-"

"Jazz, _stop it_," Alivia protested weakly. "You're scaring u - _them_."

In the dark, Jazz grinned toothily, ignoring their pleas. "Phantom…" she insisted, "stop being so stubborn, you _dork_."

A staggering, black silhouette materialized behind Jazz, and all three of her friends promptly screamed. They clamored, pushing away from the table and releasing the planchette. The spectral figure loomed at Jazz's shoulder, menacingly - unnaturally. A real… a real _ghost_. Jazz had summoned a ghost! Cory hid herself beneath her bed, hiding herself from sight. Alivia was doing her best to comprehend what she was seeing, actual proof of paranormal existence - something she thought to be absurd! And Raquel… Raquel was a paralyzed, sobbing mess.

"Why are you all dark?" Jazz calmly asked the figure behind her. She released the planchette and turned to the familiar aura that stood at her shoulder. "You've never looked like _that_ before."

When he spoke his voice was garbled and staticky, a cacophony of white noise. Jazz reflexively cringed. "You're speaking in ghost-speak," she informed him.

The ghost looked at his shadowy hands and audibly groaned. A white spark of light formed around his midsection and illuminated the entire dorm room. It hovered around his waist and expanded, encircling and colorizing him. And then, the spectral figure was a lanky teenage boy donning sweatpants and a NASA t-shirt. He had black hair and blue eyes, a splash of freckles, and blue band-aids applied on various body parts.

At that point, Alivia and Raquel's jaws had dropped to the floor. Cory was still cowering under her bed, unable to get a clear vantage of the specter. He looked ultimately harmless and was glaring irritably at Jazz. In turn, she didn't back down. When they stood face-to-face, Jazz was about one inch taller, and she used that inch to her advantage; standing slightly over him.

He moved first, crossing his arms, "Did you just summon me all the way to Massachusetts only to call me a _dork_?"

"You wouldn't answer your phone," she supplied. "I figured it was a fair course of action."

"You're a jerk," he declared.

"Stupid," she responded.

"Know-it-all."

"_Super-disaster_."

"_Psycho-sister_."

She barked, laughing. "I've missed you."

He raised a brow, "It's only been… four months?"

"I'm sorry," Cory intervened, crawling out from underneath her bed. "What's going on?"

Alivia and Raquel stood baffled, having seen the entire exchange. "No clue," Alivia breathed.

"Oh, sorry guys," Jazz laughed. She patted Danny on the shoulder and jetted for the lightswitch. For a moment, everyone in the room had to blink the darkness out of their eyes. "I... kinda of scared you on purpose? I saw an opportunity and took it," she admitted to her friends. "This is my brother, Danny. He's half-human-half-ghost; it's complicated but you just have to go with it."

"Ghosts are… real?" Alivia reevaluated everything she thought she knew. Raquel nodded numbly next to her.

"_Woah_… How can you be dead and alive at the same time?" Cory asked excitedly.

"Uh," Danny butted in. He nudged Jazz, "who gave you permission to tell your new college friends my secret?"

"I did?" she raised a brow. "Look, they're not going to tell. They didn't even know for sure that ghosts existed until two minutes ago. Trust me, no one will buy their story if they _do_ try to snitch; it isn't like home here."

"Fine," Danny groaned. "But I'm still pissed you did this. Do you know how awful it is to be summoned? Once you're called on, it's irresistible and I hate it. What if I had been in front of Mom and Dad, huh? Besides, how am I going to get home now, anyway? Amity Park is _hundreds_ of miles away."

"I'm so lost," Raquel muttered.

"I summoned my brother to scare you and to punish him for ignoring me," Jazz grinned. "It was the perfect plan on both accounts."

"She looks like she's innocent, but she's _not_," Danny told them, seriously.

"I _am _innocent!"

"I have to fly more than three hours, non-stop because you pulled me out here! I have school tomorrow! Tell me how that's _innocent_!"

"Well, I guess if you put it that way… I didn't realize that I couldn't just unsumon you," she admitted sheepishly. "Didn't realize you'd have to take the long way."

"Jazz!" he cried.

"I know, I know," she said, "screw up on my part. But hey, you got to meet my new college friends?"

"I think I traumatized them," he glanced at the three perplexed girls watching their exchange with captured interest.

"Yeah… okay, maybe I'm not good at pranking?" she asked.

"You think?" Danny asked. He put a hand to his head. "Look, it was good seeing you Jazz, but it's late and I need to get home ASAP." He posed and allowed the transformation rings to morph him into Phantom. Alivia, Raquel, and Cory gasped again, and Danny lifted off the floor. "It was uh… good meeting you?" he told them. "Sorry about all this, _Spazz_ can be short-sighted."

"Stop saying that-!"

"Love ya, '_sis_'," he bid sarcastically her farewell. "Sorry I couldn't stay long."

He phased through the wall, leaving her alone with her friends. "You didn't stay _at all_," she accused, moments too late. Once she realized he had left for good, Jazz turned back to her friends. The table with the ouija was between them, and she realized what a bad idea all this had been. The tension in the room was high, and Jazz felt she was suffocating. That hadn't gone as smoothly as she'd envisioned.

"So…" Cory started awkwardly, breaking the ice. "Your brother's a ghost? That's uh… _pretty different_."


	13. A Sister's Devotion

**Day Nineteen: Favorite Episode**

**Word Count: 2403**

**Genre: Family**

Danny bolted, flashing a panicked look towards Sam and Tucker, and ran dramatically out of the back door of the ice cream parlor. _That… was an extreme reaction,_ Jazz decided. Hesitating for only a moment, Jazz barrelled after him, almost colliding with one of the servers. "Danny, wait!"

She pushed through the '_employee's only_' door and came to a crossroads; there were three doors, the breakroom, the storage room, and the door to the alley. "He went this way," she muttered, deducing that he'd probably left the building. "I think that I can head him off..."

When she opened the back door, she stopped abruptly; Danny was still crouching in the middle of the alley. Jazz didn't want to spook him, so she opened the door a sliver and peeked through the frame. A spark of white light appeared around his midsection, seeing to pulsate… out _from_ Danny?

The light changed, forming a ring around Danny. Jazz watched curiously as the ring enveloped him, moving around Danny and changing his clothing into a black material. How was…? Were her eyes even working right? What was happening to Danny, what-?

She had to stifle a gasp as the ring of light ascended over his head, sapping the color from his hair and leaving his eyes a blazing green. His eyes were actually _glowing_. It took her another moment to realize that she had seen Danny like this before, well not Danny. She had seen a _ghost_ that looked like this! A real ghost! How the _hell_ was Danny a ghost!

The staid expression never slipped off his face and he bent his knees and kicked off of the ground, jumping into the air and staying there - _flying_. With determination, Danny jet straight down the alley, his legs twisting into an amorphous spectral tail behind him. There's _still_ no way that could really be-

"_Danny_?" she clutched her head, trying to wrap her mind around what she had just seen.

Sam and Tucker arrived seconds later, having approached from the other side of the alley. Jazz turned to them in bewilderment. Had that really just happened? Had her eyes deceived her? Was Danny actually the ghost same that she had seen earlier? Even though Danny was alive and her brother-

But was Danny alive?

That question halted her internal ramblings, sending a chill down her spine. How awful was that; she wasn't even sure if her brother was _alive_ anymore! How had she neglected this, not seen this before? She had to investigate this, determine what _exactly_ Danny was and wasn't. Jazz had never been more confounded. This was already eating her from the inside, this _uncertainty_, this revelation.

Sam and Tucker clearly knew about… whatever that Danny was? It was so obvious now, how they often covered for him. And just then, they had done it again; covered for Danny so he could fight that… ghost panther thing. Danny was _fighting_ the ghosts, just like Mom and Dad had always encouraged, always boasted about. _It's almost ironic_, she realized deliriously. Danny was supposedly some kind of ghost-person and he was following in their parents' profession by hunting them!

The fact that he was fighting explained some more things, but not much. It explained the destruction that he had caused in Lancer's office a few days ago. It explained why the medical supplies in their bathroom moved every few weeks. It also explained why he had been so sullen lately, discouraged. He was dealing with all this stress that he couldn't tell anyone about - keeping his otherworldliness a secret and fighting the ghosts. Mom and Dad were definitely a problem, with their talk about what they'd like to do with ghosts. In retrospect, she probably hadn't been helping either….

When she went home, she went to her bedroom first. Danny had inexplicably gotten home before her, which she figured _was_ explicable now since she knew that he could fly. _Man_, it still hadn't sunk in. Her little brother could _fly_. How was one supposed to react to that?

She laid on her bed for an immeasurable amount of time, recalling what she had seen and learned. The way that the light had changed him… colors inverting. How Danny hadn't even flinched, familiar with the process of transforming…. The terrifying implications, how he might not even be human or alive anymore…. Because despite what she knew about him, there was no doubt he _had_ looked like a ghost, wielding ghost powers like it was natural to him.

It all kept coming back to that. As she tried to piece together a picture in her head, figure things out, it all came back to one panicked realization: Danny _isn't_ human anymore. Because ghosts can't be alive, right? Even though she swore that she had seen him breathing, become fatigued, and eat….

But he couldn't be both alive and dead, so she had to determine the truth.

Jazz pushed herself off of her bed and walked over to her desk drawer. The clock on her nightstand said it was about 7pm now. Mom had called her down for dinner about fifteen minutes ago, but Jazz had stayed in her room, unable to think about eating. It wasn't that she wasn't hungry, it's just that she couldn't afford a distraction; she had to figure this out before she did everything else. _Priorities_. Even her Spirit Week speech could wait until she understood what Danny was.

She opened the drawer and rummaged through it, looking for what she hoped was still there…. The second prototype of the Fenton Finder. About two years ago she had gotten frustrated that her parents were spending more time working on the Fenton Finder than with her so she stole it. She couldn't bring herself to destroy all the hard work that Mom and Dad had put into the device, locking it away instead. Jazz always told herself that she would return it later but by the time she was ready to return it they had already started the fourth prototype.

She crept down the stairs carefully. She could hear Mom and Dad in the living room, but she knew that Danny hadn't come up to his room yet. He must still be eating dinner. _Good,_ Jazz thought. _I can work with that_.

She stood beside the doorway to the kitchen, her back pressed against the wall. She could hear Danny listlessly moving his silverware across his plate. Was he not eating because he was depressed, or was he not eating because ghosts couldn't eat? It occurred to her that she had seen him eat, but what if that was just an act?

_Well, time to find out._

She'd remembered some of Mom and Dad's notes and recalled that this particular prototype of the Fenton Finder could run detailed diagnostics within a certain proximity of a ghost. Jazz would run diagnostics on Danny and see what they said about him, and then decide on a course of action from there.

She pressed the 'start' button and the device activated for first time in two years. Thankfully, the batteries were still functional, otherwise this would've been a bust. The screen went blank, flashed a pixelated 'FW' logo for a few moments, and then reloaded completely. A single box popped up on the screen: **'1 ecto-entity found. Run diagnosis?'**

Jazz jammed the 'yes' button with enough force that she was worried that she'd broken the device. Then, a graph appeared on the screen. Jazz scanned the results, trying to make sense of them. She was sure that these terms made sense to her parents, but she was having a difficult time making them out….

**-Subject: Human - Ecto-Classification: Unknown - Power Level: 7.2 - Active Ecto-Energy: 3% - Stable: Yes - Signature ID: Unregistered-**

That… was an entire mess. So first, Danny was human… but he had a power level, active ecto-energy, and a stable ectoplasmic composition. At least the human clarification relieved her worries that Danny was _dead._ However, even if he was human, he was definitely also an 'ecto-entity'. The Fenton Finder had only given her more questions. Is it possible to be a living ghost? Because she couldn't see any other way Danny could be a human and have ghost powers!

What really baffled Jazz is that she didn't even know how this had happened - how Danny had gotten powers in the first place. Mom and Dad had _always_ said that it was impossible, and they were ghost experts! Sure, her parents were wrong about many things, but they were usually on-point about ghosts. Or… at least she had thought.

Jazz wracked her brain, trying to recall any incidents that could have given Danny powers. Mishaps happened all the time with their ghost weapons and usually with her more than Danny. The time that Dad had vacuumed her hair, the time her laundry got contaminated, the time that Mom grazed her with an ecto-burner…. The only really big accident that Danny had been involved in lately had been with the Ghost Portal and she knew that it couldn't be that. After all, Sam and Tucker were there and told Jazz that Danny had only been shocked by the plug to the portal. That he had gotten a small jolt of electricity, nothing else, nothing more….

And that had been a complete lie, hadn't it? And she had fallen for it, nonetheless _gullible_. _Wow_, the incident had been staring her in the face this entire time and she hadn't realized it. She certainly felt stupid now. Danny getting powers from the Ghost Portal made so much sense that it was almost scary. It also was around the same time that he had started acting differently, more fidgety, clumsy, nervous, morose….

So, Danny was part-ghost with ghost powers and his parents were ghost hunters. His two best-friends knew, but they could only help him so much. Jazz realized now, Danny was struggling. She could offer to help him, lend him her own hand. Reassure him that she cared about him, because despite how she acted sometimes, she truly loved her brother. It was just something that siblings didn't say because nobody wants to be the gushy one.

Danny was just a few feet away and in the three minutes Jazz had been standing there, he hadn't stopped pushing his food around. Jazz decided, _I have to talk to him_. _Let him know I'm there for him._

She turned off the Fenton Finder and placed it in a nearby plastic plant; Mom would find it later and assume Dad had left it there. Jazz breathed quietly and stepped into the kitchen doorway. Danny must've noticed her movement, because he looked up from his plate almost instantly. His eyes met hers, boring into her with bored accusation, "What?" he asked.

Jazz forgot everything that she had been preparing to say. "Nothing," she responded. Once again, she had a lapse of disbelief. This… _kid_ \- her brother - was part-ghost? She'd been thinking about it all night, but being in the same vicinity as him just felt underwhelming. Nothing about him suggested that there was more to him beneath the surface. Beneath… _the surface_.

An urge possessed her. Just a nagging little thought. Sure, Danny was supposedly still human, but what would happen if she touched him suddenly. Would he be tangible like a human, or would her hand go through him like a ghost? _Damn curiosity_, making her wonder these stupid things. She was so burnt out after thinking about Danny after all these hours that she was foolish enough to follow through the action. She walked across the kitchen, scrutinized Danny again for a moment, and jabbed him in the shoulder. Her hand made contact with his skin and he flinched.

"What!" he yelped, recoiling from her violation.

_Well, that hadn't gone well._ "_No_thing," she repeated. She really was being ridiculous. Just because she knew that Danny had ghost powers now didn't mean that she wouldn't be able to touch him. It was an absurd notion. Jazz glanced around cautiously, ensuring that their parents weren't around to overhear. She placed a hand on her hip and treaded carefully, "So uh, Danny?"

He rubbed his arm, soothing where she had grabbed him. He didn't respond, so she continued. "I know I've been kind of hard on you lately, but you know I think you're great, right?"

Danny's expression wasn't aggressive, but it was clear she was agitating him. "Yeah, right," he said. "_That's_ not what I hear."

"Then you've heard wrong," she assured him. "Look, I know you think I'm pushy and that I'm a know-it-all. I know you think I can be a jerk sometimes."

Danny was smiling, enjoying Jazz belittling herself. She felt a pang of irritation, "You know you can stop me at any time?"

"I know," he grinned.

Jazz sighed, "All I'm saying is, I'm your sister and I care about you. And even though you think I won't understand," she firmly placed a hand on his shoulder, "you can talk to me about _anything_."

For a moment, something in his eyes looked vulnerable, his facade slipping. He looked down quickly, "Um-"

Before he could say anything, the kitchen shook - a loud _BOOM_ reverberating through the house. Both Jazz and Danny were instantly on their feet, reflexively checking what had blown up. In the living room, Dad's latest invention had misfired again.

As Mom and Dad recited their typical tirade about graphically experimenting on ghosts ("molecule by _molecule_"), Jazz watched Danny. His breathing went short, and he listened to their parents clearly uncomfortable, terrified underneath. And had an absolutely valid reason to be; hell, knowing what she knew now, _Jazz_ was scared.

She decided then and there, with resounding clarity. Although they were loving, good parents, Mom and Dad were dangerous to Danny. If they captured Danny's ghost self and didn't give him a chance to tell them the truth, the results could be disastrous… fatal… it could destroy this family.

She would stand in the way of Danny and their parents and any other danger that he faced. Even if that danger was himself and his slipping mentality, she would be there for him. She would be his rock. She would do her best to help him stand - _soar_ \- against his obstacles, whether it be ghosts, family, and the decline of his mental health.

_She would be his sister._


	14. Comfort

**Day Twenty: Comfort**

**Word Count: 2601**

**Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family**

Maddie shifted the laundry basket over her arm as she walked up the stairs. The clothes were still warm from the dryer and were folded crisply, arranged into individual stacks for each person. This load was mainly Danny's clothes (bleached t-shirts, frayed hems) and a few pairs of Jazz's pants (neat, immaculate jeans). Maddie tended to do most of her children's laundry for them, especially since Danny's clothes were a bit more… _difficult_ to treat before washing. But, she couldn't expect her son to know how to remove blood and ectoplasm stains - it was just one of those little things she did for him without mentioning. Something else that they ignored since the reveal.

It wasn't that hard. They ignored a lot of things.

Maddie ascended up the steps and turned the the first door to her left, Danny's bedroom. She maneuvered the laundry basket again and used her free arm to open his door. Since she was focusing on keeping the laundry balanced, Maddie didn't think about knocking before entering. She pushed open the door and it swung with a silent groan. Maddie walked through the threshold to Danny's room and stopped cold in her tracks. At her sudden halt, the laundry basket tipped to the side and she struggled to maintain it upright.

Danny was casually floating several feet above his bed, parallel to the floor and partially sitting up. He was on his cellphone, listening to something with earbuds while he hovered. Green eyes sleepily scanned the screen, unaware of Maddie's intrusion. What particularly caught her attention was Danny's hair, splayed untidily as if it was immune to gravity. He was in his own little bubble, hovering as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Meanwhile, Maddie was frozen, unsettled.

This presentation of levitation was just another reminder that she didn't want. That Danny was capable of unnatural things that people _shouldn't_ be able to do. That underneath her son's skin, resided a genuine, raw ghost. His entire physiology was wrong, wrong, wrong - a bastardization of two species that shouldn't be allowed to intermingle. A complete, utter _frea-_

_Stop that_. Maddie internally reprimanded herself. She was burdened with a surge of guilt; she was supposed to _accept_ Danny for what - who - he is. He should be comfortable using his own powers whenever he felt like it because they were a part of him, essentially the equivalent of another limb. Maddie shouldn't condemn him for that, shouldn't feel… _disgusted_. And yet, she did. Because whenever he expressed his powers even scarcely, they repulsed her. She didn't want to feel that way and was doing her best to overcome her ghost-hunting instincts.

For him. She was _trying_.

Maddie inhaled and exhaled. She wouldn't… wouldn't let this bother her. She couldn't, she would just… let it go.

At her slight motion, Danny's eyes flitted away from his phone screen, realizing that he wasn't alone. When he saw Maddie, it was like someone had suddenly slapped him; his eyes bulged for a moment and it was clear he was startled. Almost instantly, he dropped like a dead weight - letting gravity pull him back onto his bed with alarming force. His bed trembled at the sudden impact, creaking in complaint. Danny awkwardly reoriented himself, looking between Maddie and the floor nervously.

"M - Mom," he greeted. "What's up?"

"I brought your laundry," she told him, forcefully softening her voice. With one arm, she reached and pulled out his stack of t-shirts and jeans, placing them beside him on his bed. She considered mentioning how she had gotten the stains out, but opted against it; the air between them was already awkward with what had happened. The tension alone was enough to compel Maddie to flee from Danny's room. That was easier than the strain that came from pretending that nothing had happened, that she _hadn't_ just walked in on Danny floating above his bed.

"Thanks," he mumbled, eyeing his laundry like it was all that mattered, avoiding eye contact. In a way, Maddie was almost grateful for that; she couldn't face him either.

"You're welcome, sweetie," she said, balancing the laundry basket with Jazz's jeans. "Dinner is in an hour, alright?"

"I'll try to make it," he replied thoughtlessly, cringing at the unsaid implication. That if he couldn't make it to dinner it would be because he was out ghost-hunting as Phantom….

Maddie nodded, swallowing the lump that had settled in her throat. "Alright. See you then."

Neither of them said any more as she strode towards the doorway, one-handedly exiting with the laundry. The doorway closed behind her, and Maddie walked towards Jazz's bedroom with an uneasy impression.

Trying apparently couldn't prevent ghost attacks, Maddie inferred. When she called Jack in from the living room into the kitchen, she'd caught a glimpse of the TV. Jack had the TV muted, reading 'Billionaire Magazine's' column on Vlad instead of watching the news. However, on Channel 6 they were live broadcasting a ghost fight. Phantom was too quick for the camera, but Maddie still managed to catch a black blur in the margins of the screen.

Well, too bad for full family dinner tonight; Danny could eat whenever he got back home. According to Jazz, Maddie needed to _insist_ that Danny ate since taking care of his health was especially vital with all the stamina he needed. Even though Maddie was having a difficult time adjusting to all the changes in their family dynamic, she was more than pleased to encourage healthy eating habits.

Danny returned from his fight moments after Maddie finished doing the dishes. In human form, he looked exceptionally normal for someone returning from an airborne brawl against a malevolent specter. Sure, his hair was bit scruffier than usual and he smelled like smoke and rubble. And his lip was split, undeniably smudged with dried ectoplasm. Maybe there was a mottled bruise on his forearm that was already healing, a temporary prize from his _fight_. But by all accounts, Danny Fenton stood as he normally did, sagging with a drowsy yet content demeanor. His stance could easily be written off as regular teenage fatigue, so that's what Maddie told herself.

_Hypocrite_, a nasty little voice nagged at her, _just tell yourself the truth._

If Maddie wanted to care about Danny, engage in his life, then she had to face what was really happening. Acknowledge what he was really doing instead of sitting at the dinner table with his family. If this awkward rift continued between them for any longer, their relationship may not be salvageable. It was just so _hard_, especially with what had happened earlier.

"I saved you a plate," she told Danny. She gestured to the stove, where she'd left his dinner; spaghetti, asparagus, and garlic bread. By now, the pasta was surely cold.

He livened, suspending his weary exterior, "You mean Dad didn't eat it all? Wow, and here I thought I'd have a freezer dinner," he joked. "Thanks, Mom."

"I wouldn't let you miss out on spaghetti night, especially when you can't help it," she acknowledged. He flustered for a moment before letting it dissolve, ignoring what she had meant.

"I appreciate it," he crossed the kitchen to get a glass from the cabinet. Meanwhile, Maddie figured that she'd go ahead and microwave it for him - it was the least she could do. She started the timer and watched as Danny poured himself a large glass of Dr. Pepper-

"Should you be having that much caffeine before bed on a school night?" she asked. "It's almost already eight o'clock."

He shrugged, "With my metabolism caffeine is practically ineffective. Learned that the hard way when I tried to drink coffee in the mornings and kept falling asleep anyway. I don't even _like_ how coffee tastes so that was a bust."

"Oh." Every now and then she would learn something small about what it really meant to be half-ghost; how much being a hybrid affected Danny's life with even the most mundane things…. It was a dizzying perspective. She knew that he was acquainted with that side of himself, but to her it was just so… _negative_ that it was hard to view Danny's changes as if they were normal. "Just…" she struggled for words, "don't drink the entire two-liter tonight."

"Okay," he nodded, twisting the cap on the bottle and placing it back inside the fridge. Moments later, the microwave beeped behind her, startling her. She didn't react visibly but her pulse _definitely _spiked. Maddie shook off the adrenaline rush, opened the microwave, and set Danny's plate on the table.

She sat in the seat beside him, which was usually Jazz's seat. However, she wanted to sit with him tonight and it would be awkward if she sat on the opposite side of the table. Danny grabbed a fork from the dishwasher (since he kept forgetting to put the dishes away) and sat next to his Mom. He dug into his dinner while Maddie watched.

"Can I ask you something?" Maddie didn't recall asking the question, almost as if she had subconsciously decided to do something about the divide that hadn't stopped grating on her.

Danny set his fork of spaghetti down and reached for a sip of soda. "Yeah?"

"Well," Maddie started. Her mouth was dry and she didn't know exactly how to word this, how to begin this conversation that she'd been avoiding. She wasn't ready, neither of them were ready - this was too _prompt_. But… if she wasn't ready now, she'd never be. "Are you not comfortable using your powers around me and Dad?"

Processing her words, Danny swallowed harshly, momentarily gagging on his Dr Pepper. He set his glass back down and forcibly replied, "No, of _course_ not!"

They both knew that was a lie. She gave him a deliberate look until he gave in. "... _yeah_," he admitted, anxiously soothing the back of his neck.

It didn't need to be said, but she also confessed, "I'm uncomfortable with it too."

Danny looked down and stabbed his spaghetti, slowly swirling the noodles around his fork, "I know."

"I think we should try to change that," she said. "I know it's weird for both of us since this whole half-ghost thing is weird with how we used to be about ghosts. I'm still trying to correct myself whenever I think about ghosts in general, but hating anything ghost related is so innate that it's difficult for me to unlearn."

Danny didn't seem offended, he nodded with practiced recognition. "But you're trying though." He didn't look up from his plate.

"I'm not trying enough," she corrected. "That's why neither of us are comfortable with this. I want to… want to just overcome all this awkwardness whenever you do something ghostly or - or talk about Phantom." She hesitated, "Because I _do_ love you and neither of us should have to live this way.

She hadn't realized how thoroughly she had thought about this. She'd been pushing it down for so long that saying it to Danny just felt… unreal.

"What should we do then?" Danny's voice was steady, but small.

"I…" once again, it was something that she hadn't realized she'd known, a subconscious solution, "we can talk about things more. We've both avoided talking about your powers deliberately so I suppose… we just start? Like this conversation?"

Danny swallowed his bite of spaghetti. "I guess?" he shrugged. "Still weird. I'm just not..." he struggled for words, "I never thought that if you found out, that you'd accept me at all. This is just so strange for you to know and not want to kill me. I never expected for you to really… _try_ to understand - so even though this is awkward, it's more than I thought I'd get."

Her stomach sank. She already knew that Danny had expected she and Jack to disown him. That he'd been scared of them experimenting on him for _months_. But for him to bring that up again, was like a hard blow. Regrets that she'd battled since the revelation swung back in full force, reminding her how she'd _made him feel_. Trapped inside his secrets, inhuman enough to be experimented on, an abomination to his family. _She'd_ caused him to feel that way. And what was worse is that some parts of her wanted him to feel that way, still. Yet, she pushed them down - as she always did.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. Her timing was off-kilter and they'd already apologized _so much _but it felt necessary.

"Don't be," he said shortly. "We're working through this and… I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants things to change," Danny confessed.

She nodded, "I admit that it was getting me. Today… was…" she paused, "_yeah_. Talking about things feels like it might help more, and if you're okay with it, using your powers more might help as well."

"That's… I'll think about it," he fidgeted. "What about Dad, though?"

Maddie froze. She had spoken to Jack about some things with Danny's secret, but he for the most part thought everything was in the clear. He simply hadn't picked up on the same awkward moments that Maddie had perceived. That was just sort of the person that Jack was. "Your father…" she breathed, "God bless him, he wouldn't mind either way because he doesn't read social cues well."

"I picked up on that," Danny admitted. "I just didn't know what you…"

"Yeah," Maddie agreed. He didn't have to say it. "_Yeah_."

By now, Danny had eaten most of his food. There were only a few strands of asparagus left on his plate. In a beat of silence, Danny caught her looking at the vegetables. "I don't like those," he said, sheepishly.

"I think you should eat them," Maddie pressed. Breaking the dire tone of the conversation, a smile played on her lips, "After all, what would _Sam_ say?"

"Moooom," he complained. "That's betrayal."

"I just want you to eat healthy," she assured.

"_Betrayal_," he repeated, stabbing and pointedly eating the asparagus with a hint of disgust. "Happy?"

"Very," she said. "Especially with your metabolism you need to eat vegetables to get all the nutrients you need."

"Science is really against me, huh?" he asked rhetorically. "In about every way possible too."

If he'd said earlier that day, Maddie might've fallen silent and ignored the double meaning in his words, but not now. Not after their latest conversation. "I think you're probably more against science than science is against you," she replied.

He snorted, "So now you're blaming me for physics?" He faked being hurt, "I feel the love."

"Ha _ha_," she deliberated. She tentatively ruffled his hair, "I don't blame you for anything, you know that, right? I blame most of everything on me."

She'd told him before, yet it never seemed to register. He looked at her, perplexed, "It's hard to remind myself that."

"Then I'll keep reminding you until it sinks in," she decided. "Even if things get awkward like they have been, I will always love you as my son first - ghost, boy, or scientific anomaly."

For the first time in their conversation, Danny actually looked comfortable. "Thank you, Mom."

After that one talk, the next few conversations about Danny's ghostliness were rough, difficult - but they eventually all ended in the same place. It took a few months of conscience effort and with Danny dabbling with openly using his powers. Despite the tension and awkward moments in between, in the end they reached a place where both parties were comfortable with Danny naturally exhibiting his duality.


	15. Double Date

Day Twenty-One: Double Date

Word Count: 5894

Genre: Humor/Drama

"I already said yes though," Dani shrugged, plopping down onto the bed and kicking off her sneakers. "It's just going to be _me_, so why are you nervous?"

Sitting crossed legged in her desk chair, Valerie fidgeted. "Well… I know that you're not that familiar with societal norms-"

"You mean I'm technically a three-year-old clone," Dani rolled her eyes. She slid her beanie lower onto her head. "But it's _just_ a date. People do it all the time!"

"That's not it, Dani," Valerie said. "When two girls date… it's different than when other people date."

"Your Dad already gave me the talk about that-"

"-No," Valerie interrupted. "I mean… what if people look at us weird? What if they talk about us? What if someone… tries to _hurt_ you? I just can't stop thinking about all these awful things." She took a shaky breath, "It may be the way my Mom raised me, but it still feels like I'm doing something _wrong_. And everyone else will _know_ that I'm doing it."

Dani raised a brow, "So you're afraid of being alone with me because people at the restaurant are going to judge you?"

"Well," Valerie blushed, holding her hands close to her chest, "when you put it like that it sounds stupid."

"Nah, you're good," Dani confirmed. "I get nervous over literally _everything_, remember who you're talking to? Ms. Disaster Phantom-"

"You're not a disaster-" Valerie protested.

"On my first day of high school someone asked me for a pencil and I hid in the bathroom, crying invisibly because I wasn't sure if they meant a wooden or electric pencil and I only had _pens_," Dani deadpanned. "Nobody's more disastrous than that."

"It's not your fault you don't have experience with those things though," Valerie pointed out, "I'm just being… ridiculous."

"Well, technically you don't have experience dating someone as _awesome_ as me, so 'lack of experience' is applicable to your worries too," Dani lit her finger with a small ectoplast - like a candle - and pointed at Valerie. "You don't have to be nervous about it! But, I guess if you'd feel better we can have a double date; I can ask someone else to come along with us? That way it wouldn't just be us alone," she suggested

Valerie considered Dani's offer for a moment, "Who would you ask though?"

Dani grinned, "_Wellll_, I have _some_ people in mind but that would ruin the surprise."

"So you're not going to tell me?" Valerie raised a brow. She playfully waved a hand towards Dani, "_Suspicious_."

"I gotta keep you on your toes," Dani giggled. "But seriously," she sobered, "if it'll make you more comfortable, I can ask someone."

"I…" Valerie was tempted to just spend the night with Dani, alone… but if Dani could invite other people to draw attention away from them then she felt like their date wouldn't be as _mortifying_. "Alright. Go ahead an invite your mystery people, _Ms. Disaster_."

"You bet on it," Dani replied, leaning in to give Valerie a hug before she phased through the wall.

When Danny's ghost sense curled up his throat, he sensed a familiar presence… it almost felt like-

"Hi, I have something to ask!"

"Danielle?" he asked. Dani Phantom phased through his bedroom wall, making the quick transition back into human form beside Danny - who was doing homework on his bed. Dani dropped in from time to time, usually helping Danny with ghost fights and generally hanging out. Most of the time, he glimpsed her at school but usually didn't interact in case someone made the connection that 'Elle Jones' and Danny Fenton were related.

Eight months ago, Dani moved in with Valerie and enrolled at Capser High as Val's 'family friend'. Danny had been shocked at first, but it turns out that sometime during Dani's travels, she started talking with Valerie again and they really hit it off. So by the time that Dani was fourteen, she moved to Amity Park permanently and about six months later (to no one's surprise - except maybe Damon Gray's) they started dating. After everything, Valerie still didn't know Danny's secret, but had stopped hunting Phantom at Dani's insistence. That didn't mean that Valerie _liked_ Phantom, per se… they were still working that out.

"Can you come on a date with Val and I tomorrow night?" she asked, slumping beside him on his bed before he could blink. The pencil for his trigonometry homework slid off of his binder and onto the floor.

He looked at her, trying to understand if he had heard correctly, "Can I _what_?"

"Valerie's nervous to go on a date alone with me since we're both girls so I told her I'd find someone to have a double date with us and by someone I meant you because I couldn't think of anyone else," she unloaded in a single breath. "So can you? I don't know what else to do if you say no."

Danny was still trying to process what she'd said. "Slow down," he advised, "It's hard to think when you're rambling," he laughed. "So you want me to tag along on a date?"

"Well, preferably you and _your_ date, not just you by yourself because that would be weird. So are you and Sam free?"

Danny scoffed, "Me and Sam? What makes you think Sam and I are together?"

Dani rolled her eyes, "Tucker told me that you guys have been secretly dating since the end of your Junior year. It's not that hard to put together, either. I don't know why you try hiding it."

"We have… _reasons_," Danny flustered. "Reasons that include parents and people putting together that Sam hangs around Fenton _and_ Phantom. That, and we don't really need the _attention_."

"Whatever you say," Dani smiled. "_Sooo_ yes or no? I really need it to be yes," she added.

"I uh…" Danny glanced somewhere behind Dani before turning back to his clone, "it's not up to _just_ me. I'd have to ask Sam?"

"When is she not free?" Dani crossed her arms. "Just call her right now and then it'll be settled."

"I guess…" he shrugged. Danny leaned over and picked up his phone from his nightstand. "What should I ask her, specifically?"

"I dunno, say like 'Dani wants us to go on a double date with Val…'"

Danny started typing the message, speaking as he wrote, "Dani… on a double… Val because she is _forcing_ me…"

"Yeah, _yeah_," Dani deadpanned. She recited the rest of the message, "'Are you free tomorrow at six at Macado's restaurant?'"

Danny started typing and frowned. "Isn't that a burger place?" he looked up. "You know she can't eat that."

Dani groaned. "_Fine_, we'll change the restaurant. Is Chili's alright?"

Danny snorted, "Chili's? Have you been watching Vines again?"

"I've been to Chili's before," she scoffed. "Well… technically behind a Chili's." At his judgemental stare, she defended, "_You_ try being on the run and trying to subsist off of chain restaurants beside the Interstate! Anyway, I guess the food I tried there was decent enough?"

Danny had a glassy look in his eyes. "I did _not_ need to know that you've dumpster dived at Chili's, Dani," he decided.

"Sorry," she apologized. Her voice expressed little guilt.

He shook his head, ignoring what she'd said altogether. "So, I guess Chili's is alright for tomorrow night." He finished the text to Sam and hit send. "Sam'll probably get a salad or something."

"Cool," Dani nodded. "So… now that we're acknowledging your not-so-secret relationship with Sam, how many dates have you two been on?"

"None of your business," Danny set his phone to the side. "You know, you could've told me that you knew about our relationship any time in the past few months."

"Well, maybe I was waiting for you to tell me," she stuck her tongue out.

"If that's the case," Danny nudged her, "then you're too much like _Jazz_."

Dani mocked gasped, "How _dare_ you compare me to my pseudo-sister? I'm so," she leaned into Danny's lap, "_hurt_."

"Get off," he laughed, shoving Dani up.

"Stop avoiding the question then," she smirked. "How many dates have you and Sam been on?" she repeated.

Danny groaned in frustration. "Will you let that go?"

"No," her eyes betrayed green and she started pestering him. "How many? How many? How many? _How ma_-"

"Three!" Danny interrupted. "I took her out flying a week after we started dating and we stargazed. The last day before Senior year we went to a vegan cafe and last month we went to the arcade without Tucker."

"That's not many," Dani judged. "Val and I have at least been on _two_ dates and we've been dating for half the time you and Sam have! We went flying together and then a few weeks ago we had a date in the Ghost Zone," she bragged.

"Well sorry I don't have as much time as you to be a hopeless romantic when _I'm_ the one having to ghost hunt when you and Val are spending nights in the Ghost Zone doing who knows what-"

She smacked him, "We're not _that far_ yet, pervert. We haven't even kissed yet, mind you. We've only kissed like… _once_."

"Good," Danny affirmed. "I'd kick Gray's ass if she took it too far with you."

Dani blushed. "Okay, you don't have to do _that_. Overprotective _original_. Ancients, stop trying to be my Dad."

This time, Danny blushed; perhaps brighter than Dani, "I'm not trying to-"

Thankfully, before he could finish his sentence, his phone went off. Sam had texted back - at the perfect moment too. He unlocked his phone and read the message.

"'Cool with me, but what's your excuse for how Dani and Danny Fenton know each other when _Phantom_ is supposedly her cousin?'" Danny read. "Oh shit… she's right. How are we going to explain to Valerie that we know each other? We practically ignore each other at school, so I doubt we can use that as an excuse."

"I - I don't know," Dani realized. She thought for a moment, and had a sudden epiphany. "We can use what Sam said! Valerie _does_ know that Phantom is my cousin," she repeated.

Danny raised a brow, "Yeah, and...?"

"Come on the date as Phantom instead of Fenton! Sam can still come as your date since Valerie doesn't that she's dating Fenton! It's perfect!"

Danny did a double take, "Hold up a minute," he put his hand up. "You want me to go to Chili's... _as Danny Phantom_?"

"Yeah, what's complicated about it?" she questioned.

"Uh… _everything_," Danny stressed. "First, why would a _ghost_ be going on a date with three other teenagers? What would people think? I'd be drawing a _lot_ of attention. What would that do to my image? What if they kick me out?"

"Well… maybe you can go in disguise? We can let Valerie know you're Phantom, but so you don't attract attention in the restaurant you can wear a fake outfit and a hat!"

"Really Dani, that sounds like it could go bad quickly."

She crossed her arms, "You've already agreed to go on the date, and so has Sam. Do you have any other ideas?"

He sighed, "Not really… no."

"Then that's it!" Dani grinned. "You're going on this double date in _disguise_! It'll be fun, so lighten up!" She stood up from his bed and promptly transformed again, getting ready to make an exit. "Anyways…" she flew towards his wall, "you're-the-best-tha_nks-a-lot-Danny_!"

He called out to her, "Dani, wai-"

She was gone before he could protest, giving him no choice about what to do for the date tomorrow.

leaving him contemplating what he should do tomorrow. Valerie still didn't like Phantom, but who knew? Maybe on their double date… he'd be able to win her over….

Even if it was the worst idea he'd ever heard.

Valerie flattened out her new maroon sweater, making sure that it didn't look rumpled. She and Dani had flown to an alley behind Chili's together and Valerie's ghost equipment gear usually left her day clothes bunched up after she retracted it back into skin. Technus's upgrades had left a… _permanent_ effect on her, but Valerie decided not to dwell on the specifics of it too much. So what? She had ghost hunting equipment that was somehow bonded to her, but compared to Dani, Valerie was practically normal. After all, Dani _was_ a half-ghost hybrid clone of Danny Phantom that Vlad Masters had grown in his lab. If either of them was the weird girlfriend, it was definitely her.

As she inspected her clothing, Valerie realized something. She had picked her outfit out before they had planned to make their date a double date, so it hadn't occurred to her until now. "I'm not underdressed, right?" Valerie poked Dani - who had just transformed into human form. "Whoever you invited, they're not going to be dressed to the nines, are they?"

Valerie had tried pestering Dani before they left for their date, but the ghost-girl was strangely stubborn and wouldn't reveal who they were going on a date with. "_It's like a blind date!_" Dani had said. "_Except y'know, you're not dating them! They're dating each other, but-_"

That had been the most information Valerie had attained. But, if this other couple ensured all the attention wouldn't be on her and Dani, then she was content with a little _mystery_.

At Valerie's question, Dani turned to her and snorted. "I doubt that." She ran a hand through Val's hair, "You look _beautiful_. The prettiest woman in the world couldn't outdress you."

Valerie giggled, "When did you learn how to flirt?"

"I've always known," Dani replied. "It's like making puns, but I'm just saying all the things I love about you. Does that make sense?"

"Not at all, but you don't have to make sense for me," Valerie leaned forward and gave Dani a quick peck on the cheek.

"You're sweet," Dani decided. "I might have to get you back for that one later."

"Oh yeah?" Valerie asked. "I'll look forward for it."

Dani smirked, "Oh, I doubt you'll _see_ me coming." She blinked out of sight for a moment before reappearing.

"I think you underestimate my skills, ghost girl." Valerie allowed just her suit's visor to materialize, which allowed her to see invisible ghosts. When Dani got the point, Valerie smugly allowed the visor to melt back into her body.

"Oh, it's _on_," Dani laughed.

"So where are we meeting these people?" In Chili's or-"

"Oh, I just told them to swing by here since that's easiest," Dani gestured to the alley around them.

Valerie raised a brow, "You asked some people to casually meet us in an _alley_?"

She fell silent, "You'll understand when they get here."

"Well, that isn't _absolutely_ cryptic," Valerie remarked dryly.

"It's true!" Dani protested, "It'll make more sense… _any_ second now."

Valerie crossed her arms, "I get why we landed in the alley since we had to land somewhere discreet, but why would it make sense for-" she cut herself off when she noticed the plume of blue vapor from Dani's breath. Valerie expected her ghost equipment to go off with Dani's ghost sense, but it never did. That was odd, because there were only two ghosts that didn't activate her sensors… Dani, because Valerie had programmed her sensors to ignore her; and the one ghost that shared Dani's ectosignature-

"Hey, Dani! Not late, are we?"

Valerie's jaw almost dropped. _Phantom_.

He shimmered into sight beside Dani, wearing a black NASA hoodie over his regular costume and a plain, blue, baseball cap to obscure his luminescent hair. Beside him, on his arm was a familiar figure that Valerie never expected to find with someone like Phantom. Sam Manson was grinning ear to ear, donning a purple and black jacket with black, ripped, skinny jeans. They looked like such a natural couple, but they couldn't be - Valerie wasn't stupid.

According to Tucker Foley, Sam had been dating Danny Fenton since the end of Junior year. Tucker had told Valerie in confidence that the news wouldn't spread around school and had kept it to herself since then. Yet, here Sam was - leaning into Phantom's embrace with unbridled infatuation. Valerie was absolutely disgusted at how easily Sam could just _betray _poor Danny Fenton for someone as awful as Phantom; if she knew anything, it was that Danny was head over heels for Sam. This act of cheating would break his heart.

"Nah, you're on time," Dani affirmed, nudging her cousin in the rib. "Hi Sam!"

Sam smiled, genuinely. "Hey Elle, you look nice tonight." Sam's gaze flitted to Valerie for a moment, ignoring Valerie's awestruck expression. "You too, Valerie."

Phantom seemed to regard Valerie for the first time since he had appeared. He looked panicked for a moment but that flicker of fear was obscured by his mask of bravado. "Hi, Val. I uh, know we're not on the best terms but Dani figured she'd ask me to come. Sorry if this is a bit of a surprise, I promise I'll keep it lowkey tonight!"

Valerie couldn't decide who she wanted to sock in the teeth more; Phantom or Sam. She couldn't believe that Phantom had the audacity to act like they were _normal _acquaintances. Sure, Dani had convinced Valerie to stop hunting Phantom, but their issues weren't resolved enough for them to go on a double date together! As far as Valerie was concerned, he was still the menace that had (_yes, inadvertently_) wrecked her life with that ghost dog!

Even though she knew more about the story, it didn't change the past; it didn't absolve her grudge for Phantom, because he hurt her in more ways than just letting that ghost run rampant. He had fueled her obsession for years, given her bad press, and flaked on their temporary alliances! He was the catalyst to her suffering, indirectly or not, she couldn't mentally get over that. Not to mention, he wasn't even the sort of person Valerie could get along with, even if she was dating his female clone.

Therefore, _Danny_ Phantom was not someone she was comfortable with right now. However, Dani had asked he and Sam to come on their date, so Valerie had to go along with this - even though she _fucking_ hated it.

So, Valerie swallowed the lump in her throat, "I'll try to hold off shooting you for one night." In return, she was met with three blank stares.

Dani coughed, "Funny _joke_, huh Val?"

Valerie nodded. "Yeah, a _joke_."

There was silence in the alley, save for the soft crinkling of a nearby receipt blowing across the ground. Above them, warm colors slid across the sky, languidly painting a picturesque atmosphere that contrasted their group's uneasiness. The sun was positioned just above the horizon, leaving pink embers in its wake; that was Dani. Softly yet brazenly acting as the spearhead for the rest of the sky, their group, influencing how each color ran across the horizon.

"So," she clapped, "whaddya say we go get a table?"

"Good idea," Phantom, Sam, and Valerie nodded simultaneously.

"I'm disappointed," Dani broke the ice once they were seated at a booth. "Nobody said 'welcome to Chili's'. I was _counting_ on that," she complained.

Sam snorted. "I suppose that was a let down." She nudged Phantom, "You got anything to add, hopeless meme man?"

"I think Dani summed up my sorrows," he remarked. Now that they were actually in the restaurant, Phantom had lowered his baseball cap lower onto his head to more adequately disguise himself. He'd also managed to dim his glow well enough that the waiter didn't even suspect that he was a ghost, or if the waiter did notice he didn't comment on it. Regardless, what mattered was that Phantom was passing and no one was looking at them weird.

"You've watched Vines, Phantom?" Valerie asked. She'd shown Dani quite a few compilations on her phone, but she never fathomed that Phantom would get any references, given that he was a _ghost_ and all. Somehow the idea that Amity Park's resident ghost hunter watched Internet videos was both comical and unsettling.

"Oh, yeah," he confirmed. He eyed Dani, who was fidgeting with her silverware. For a moment, they made eye contact and Phantom smirked, "_What do you have_?"

Not missing a beat, Dani subtly phased the silverware out of its napkin. "_A knife!_" she declared.

"_Nooooo_," Phantom finished, prompting Sam to facepalm.

He and Dani were so attuned to each other that it was almost scary. "That was _so_ bad," Valerie muttered.

"That's not even the worst of it," Sam groaned. "He also has a Tik Tok account," she revealed.

"_Saaam_," he protested, placing a gloved finger over her lips. "Why'd you have to-"

"How come _I_ didn't know this?" Dani turned on Phantom, accusingly. His eyes widened, and if you focused enough, you could see his entire body blip invisibly for a moment.

"It uh… hadn't come up?" he replied sheepishly.

Dani crossed her arms, "_Bull_ shit."

Before Danny could say any more, their waiter returned with drinks and took their orders. Danny took it as a cue to change the conversation. "So uh… are we doing a split bill, or…?"

"I could pay for all of us," Sam offered. "Don't worry about it, Val," she assured. "My parents having nothing better to do with their excessive fortune, except maybe give it to charity but apparently they're too 'cautious' to give money away to strangers. _Jackasses_."

"Your family has money?" Valerie realized. Sam didn't act the part of a rich girl; she would know, since she used to _be_ one. Suddenly, Valerie had a second realization. It was a long shot, but was it possible that Sam's money was part of the reason Phantom had developed an interest in Sam?

_No_, no that couldn't be the case because otherwise he would've already fallen for Paulina. That meant that Phantom was probably attracted to Sam's edgy, goth persona. _The ghost and the goth_, geez it was almost like a stereotype. It disgusted her, how easily Sam had led Phantom on even though she was with Danny. Valerie had decided she wouldn't speak on it tonight, but she was _definitely _texting Danny when the night was over. She couldn't betray her friend like that by keeping this knowledge to herself.

"Yeah," Sam took a sip of her iced tea. "Don't spread that around or I'll end you, though. I don't need that sort of attention, or any really."

What a fucking hypocrite. '_I don't need any attention_', yet here she was cheating on her boyfriend with _Phantom_ of all people. Valerie bit her tongue, "Got it. So…" she treated carefully, "how do you and Phantom know each other?"

She could tell instantly that they had been hoping she wouldn't ask. Both Phantom and Sam (and… _Dani_ too?) tensed. However, before Sam could answer, Phantom took control of the conversation, "She's sort of helped me with ghost hunting for a while, on the down low."

"And now you guys are a thing?" Valerie concluded. Dani silently took Valerie's hand and firmly squeezed it under the table, not letting go.

"More or less," he shrugged. "It's been official for about... four months now?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "That sounds right."

Something in Valerie _snapped_. Tucker had told her about Danny and Sam four months ago - Sam really _was_ dating them both at the same time. Even though she had told herself she wouldn't speak on it, Valerie couldn't resist. "Oh, really?" she asked. "That's nice. Funny, Manson. I thought you'd always had a thing for Fenton, but I guess you _got over that_, haven't you?"

At her words, Valerie felt Dani's hand vaporize in her grip. She'd startled Dani with that accusation, making her hand go intangible. Phantom and Sam didn't look any better. In fact, Phantom's baseball cap nearly fell off of his head and he struggled to keep his hair hidden. She'd known that Sam knew she was cheating on Danny, but from Phantom and Dani's reactions… it seemed like they also knew about her dirty two-timing act.

If Dani knew that Sam was cheating on her boyfriend, then why would she enable this relationship? Hell, why would she allow this date? In fact, Valerie returned to her initial question that she had disregarded in the alley out of circumstance; why had Dani invited Phantom in the first place when she _knew_ Valerie didn't like him!? She was equally angry at all three of them now.

She was mad at Dani for having the balls to invite someone she knew Valerie hated and his 'girlfriend' who she knew was dating one of Valerie's close friends. Well, not that Dani knew that Valerie was friends with Danny Fenton since it'd never come up, but still! Secondly, she was pissed at Phantom's general presence; even though Dani had invited him, he had agreed to come on a date with his ex-enemy. That, and he knowingly brough Sam as his date even though he knew she was cheating on her boyfriend! Knowing Phantom's cocky charm, he had most likely seduced Sam in the first place. That aside, Valerie held Sam just as guilty for cheating. For _toying_ with Danny Fenton's heart, that _slut_!

"Danny and I are just friends," Sam addressed calmly. "Maybe in the past we were interested in each other, but he knows I'm with Phantom."

Phantom nodded, lying through his teeth, "Fenton and I are chill with each other."

Dani looked between them nervously. "What he said," she told Valerie.

She'd never seen more of an _obvious_ coverup. It was infuriating, and Valerie was at her limit now. The fact that they were continuing to lie, even Dani for some reason! Why was Dani permitting this cheating act to go on? Did Dani not _trust_ Valerie to tell her the truth? Valerie glared at her girlfriend. Forget people judging her, she should've _never_ agreed to this awful double date idea!

"You three are bad liars," Valerie narrowed her eyes. "Dani, why are you on board with this?"

"On board with what?" Dani asked, her voice tight. _What the fu-_

"-she's cheating on her boyfriend!" Valerie exploded, gesturing to Sam.

At her outburst, other patrons of Chili's turn to see the commotion. Additionally, a few feet away was their waiter carrying a platter with their food. Once she realized how many people were looking at them, Valerie subconsciously shrunk down further into her seat. Phantom did the same, hoping that nobody would recognize him. Sam, on the other hand was dumbfounded. Her mouth was agape and she looked like she couldn't decide whether to melt into the booth like Phantom or propel herself over the table to take a swing at Valerie. Meanwhile, Dani was watching the entire ordeal and swearing under breath.

Ignoring the drama, their waiter approached their table professionally. "Who had the Ranchero Chicken Tacos?"

As if a spell had been lifted, Phantom straightened his posture and turned to the waiter. "That was me."

They sat in silent as their food was placed in front of them. Phantom and Dani, like-minded cowards, quickly began digging into their food as if to ignore the conversation. _Great_… Dani had been more than willing to act as mediator earlier, but now she was ignoring what Valerie had said to preserve the peace. Even though it _needed _to be addressed. Valerie completely avoided eating, awkwardly watching as Sam took cautious stabs at her salad. Finally, Sam got bored of deflecting Valerie's judgemental gaze and pushed her plate to the side.

"What?" she asked. "_What_ do you want me to say?"

Valerie narrowed her eyes, "So you admit it, that you're cheating on Danny with Phantom?"

Beside her, Dani audibly groaned in frustration. "Val-"

"He's my _friend_! Hell, he's your boyfriend! He's in love with you! Why are you okay with doing this to him? How are you _all_ content with just ignoring this!" she accused.

"Because…" Phantom started, "... I got nothing_."_

Valerie wadded up her napkin and threw it at him. "You're a jackass, for dating a girl when you know she has a boyfriend! That, and you're just a jackass in general - I don't care that the dog wasn't yours, you enabled me - even if indirectly - to do all those things I did. And you," she turned on Sam, who regarded her neutrally, "You're no better than all the girls you spit on. Just a filthy, rich, lying _slut._ And Dani," she added, fierce yet delicately, "I forgive you, but I don't understand why you're standing with _them_."

Dani started, "It's not what you think-"

"I don't care right now," she hissed. Valerie swiftly reached for her purse and left her untouched hamburger on the table. She stood up from the booth and glared at them again. "You've lost your chance to come clean, because I'm telling Danny, right now." She flashed her cellphone at them before shoving it in her pocket and exiting the dining area.

Unexpectedly, no one pursed her. _Good, _she didn't want them to. Because they were all _cowards. And liars. Cheaters. Manipulators. _Negative thoughts rattled in her brain, leading her towards her destination. Valerie pushed through the double doors of Chili's and soon found herself back where the night had first gone wrong: the alley. Finally in isolation, Valerie pulled her phone back out of her pocket and started to sift through her contacts, searching for one _Danny Fenton_. He needed to know. She couldn't - _couldn't_ be quiet about this. If she was angry, then he would be so, so much worse….

Just as she found it, 'Danny Fenton's Cell - XXX-XXXX', a voice punctured her short victory. "Valerie," Dani materialized in the alley, phasing through Chili's wall, "I swear, we kept quiet for a good reason."

"Nothing warrants helping a _cheater_," she responded, backing away from Dani. Dani respected Valerie's distance and stayed where she stood.

"It's complicated, you see… Sam isn't _really_ cheating."

"Oh really?" Valerie placed a hand on her hip, disregarding how close her arm came to the dumpster, "Then what's your explanation."

Dani shifted awkwardly. "I'll… I'll let him explain," she said meekly. And beside her, Phantom popped into sight, amrs loosely at his side. Somewhere between the restaurant and the alley, he had accidently shed his baseball cap when he went intangible. He seemed to deliberately show that he was unarmed, as if he was still worried Valerie would hurt him. In her current mood, it was a smart precaution.

"I know you're upset, but this all has a logical explanation," he assured.

She raised a brow, gesturing with her phone. "Yeah?"

"Sam, Danny, and I… we have an arrangement? You've heard of those relationships where you can have multiple partners, right? Well, uh, that's our agreement?"

He sounded uncertain and uncomfortable. He'd clearly devised that idea on the spot, a last resort - one last example. She wondered why he seemed so scared. Maybe because he knew that Danny would be angry, heartbroken, torn. And when Danny was upset… his ghost hunting parents could easily attempt to decimate Phantom. Well, seriously attempt. These days, Jack and Maddie spent most of their time trying to rid the town of other ghostly threats, but if Danny was mad at Phantom, there was no doubt that he could convince them to reorient their target.

Valerie shook her head. "You really _are_ a bad liar. Not to mention, Danny's a one partner kind of guy; polygamy is _not_ something he would condone."

"Hear me out though-!" he pled.

_He'd had his chance_. With a sense of finality, Valerie pushed the call button for Danny Fenton.

When Dani realized what Valerie had done, she inserted herself in front of her girl friend, flying forward at a startling speed. "Wait!" she cried, trying to steal Valerie's phone. But Valerie didn't let Dani get it, she summoned her armor and used the force of her transformation to push Dani back. The two ghosts fumbled with panic as they realized that nothing more could be done.

And within six seconds, a rhythmic ringtone resounded throughout the alley. It wasn't from Valerie's phone, but instead, it was from Phantom's direction. A song played, a familiar song; "Californication" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. She knew that song well, in fact… back in Freshman year, that's the ringtone that Danny Fenton had said he'd set for her….

What?

Why was Danny's phone in the alley? Why was his phone near Phantom? Did Phantom have Danny's phone? Why would _Phantom_ have Danny's phone? That didn't make sense, unless Danny gave Phantom his phone? Why would he do that, though? Who just… _lends_ their phone to a _ghost_ before a date? Had Phantom stolen Danny's phone? That didn't entirely make sense either…. Maybe it was Phantom's own cellphone that was constantly ringing at the same time Valerie was calling Danny Fenton? No, that was too ridiculous; it was _definitely _Danny Fenton's phone.

She stared at him blankly, trying to piece the puzzle together. None of it made _any_ sense! Why did Danny _freaking_ Phantom have Danny Fent-

Oh.

_Oh no_.

_Shit_, this was _way_ too obvious.

Dani was Phantom's clone. She was half-human. In her ghost form, she had white hair and green eyes and in human form she had black hair and blue eyes. Phantom was a ghost who had white hair and green eyes. Supposedly, since he was Dani's original - wouldn't he also be half-ghost? And if he had a human form… that human form would have scruffy black hair and dizzying blue eyes.

_Just like Danny Fenton. _

Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton had the same cellphone. They had the same girlfriend. And their appearances were parallel to Dani's two halves. Because they were the _same person._

And now, with that single revelation, everything felt dizzy.

Phantom - _Danny_ hesitantly reached for his cellphone. On the screen, she caught a glimpse the caller description: 'Val/Red/Whatever Lol - XXX-XXXX'. He jammed the off button and shoved it back in his hoodie's front pocket. "Val-"

"You're _him_," she put it together. "And - and you've _always _been. And you all have always known, haven't you?"

He looked scared, broken, and guilty before averting his gaze to the grimy floor of the alley. He shifted his boots around and murmured, "Pretty much, yeah."

"And Sam's not cheating because you're the same person?"

"That too," he confirmed.

She fell silent. "Was this worth keeping from me?"

He finally looked up, earnestly. "Probably not," he admitted.

And with that, a halo of white light encircled his waist. It was something Valerie had seen many times, yet it was still unfamiliar. She was used to Dani's flair for transforming, but seeing Phantom perform it too… was uncanny on all sorts of levels. When the ring traveled across his body, it didn't change his hoodie, but touched about everything else; his HAZMAT suit became jeans, his boots became sneakers, his eyes faded into blue, and his hair darkened with signature black. Danny Phantom changed into Danny Fenton, but didn't change at all.

Valerie was awestruck, "_Woah_."

"Well," Dani remarked, floating up to ruffle Danny's now black hair, "that's _one_ way to end a date."

_Indeed_, Valerie agreed.


	16. thnks fr th mmrs

**Day Twenty-Two&Twenty Four: Memories/Ghost Stories**

**Word Count: 4993**

**Genre: Horror/Suspense**

* * *

The old technology was defunct; years beyond its prime, it was a miracle it even worked. This machinery before him might have once been state of the art, but now it was just an unimpressive hunk of junk. However, Michael had been assigned to run this particular machinery in order to evaluate whether it was worth keeping in storage or not. It was clearly one of the more… _bulkier _projects from the twenty-first century and had been contained in dry storage for the past two-hundred years.

Michael traced his finger along the top frame of the machine, dust rubbing off on his glove. _Shit_. Dress-code mandated that every part of his uniform was perfectly immaculate. He attempted rubbing his glove on a nearby support beam to remove the dust. It didn't work very well, so he ceased his movement and dejectedly returned back to the old, dusty device that had blemished his glove.

Realizing that he was going to get dust over himself anyway, Michael popped open the top panel of the machine and peered inside. According to the blueprints on his wrist-projector, everything seemed to be in order. So, that indicated that it was probably safe to use. Which was good, because Michael was ordered to test the machine regardless of how safe it was. He closed the panel and took a step back. If he was going to use the machine, he needed a chair to sit in before he could plug in the Virtual Perceptor; a thin visor with wirepods that allowed him to hear and see the data that was recorded on the machine. Sure, it was a bit primeval for him, but it was the only technology that was compatible with such an old device.

So, Michael found a rickety office chair in the corner of the storage unit and rolled it in front of the large machine. He positioned it to where he could sit facing the machine, close enough to where his knees would probably press against the base of the device. Once the chair was in order, Michael fished out the plug in for the Virtual Perceptor and managed to find the correct ports to connect it to the machine.

Finally, he found one of the disks of digitized core fluid and inserted it into the data reader on the side of the machine. Digitized core fluid… _Jesus_ how archaic. That was back in the days where the GIW would melt down ghosts to their cores to extract memories. The practice was discontinued within their organization long ago, but the ecto-memory extraction technique eventually helped expedite human memory extraction research and procedures. That was illegal now, but it's insane how a _ghost_ research organization jumpstarted human memory extraction and eventual AI creation.

Once the machine accepted the disk, Michael took his seat in the office chair and lowered the Virtual Perceptor over his head and jammed the wirepods into his ears. Until he turned the machine on he was effectively blindfolded, so he reached forward and frisked the panel of the device, looking for the correct button. Finally, something depressed under his fingers and a transparent, red grid faded into sight. He could hear the disk revolving in the machine with effort, but it never faltered, continuing to spin and spin.

In his vision, Michael perceived words: '**Experiment 432004-DjFPh**'. The words stayed on the screen for about fifteen seconds before it was replaced with more text: '**Extraction Date Completion - 08-07-2012**'.

_2012_? No, that couldn't be correct. Michael had read through all of the GIW's records and the earliest ecto-memory extraction had been in 2021. Maybe somewhere in the official data, the 1 and the 2 had been swapped when it had been reuploaded to the new mainframe in 2067? Or maybe, the GIW deliberately kept ecto-memory extraction procedures under wraps for nine years... now _that_ was sketchy.

The text faded to black before the screen started to pixelate and build a scene, a recording of a ghost's memories first-hand. From what he could tell, he was in a classroom of sorts. In front of him was the back of a girl's head, a vibrant, orange flower clipped into her hair. In his peripheral vision, he could make out desks, a whiteboard, and an ancient projector board with four styluses attached to the bottom.

The specimen - the ghost - was sitting boredly in this classroom, failing to pay attention to the speaker at the front of the room. "... in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So Romeo would…"

This memory puzzled Michael, because it seemed like just an ordinary classroom from a human perspective. If he had to guess, it was an early high school class due to the age of the students and the general environment. Yet, knowing where the memory took place did not help Michael; something certain about ghosts is that they shouldn't be able to retain any of their human memories, so why was this scene from such a seemingly human perspective?

The ghost groaned to itself as it breathed (_breathed?_) out a blue vapor. The vapor quickly dissipated and the ghost straightened in its chair, suddenly unsettled. It forced a cough before raising its arm, impatiently gesturing for the teacher at the front of the class to notice it.

Finally, the balding man reading from the book at the front of the classroom noticed the ghost's commotion. He lowered the book and raised a brow, "Bathroom, Mr. Fenton?"

The ghost - who was named Fenton - shifted awkwardly, "Uh, yeah. Can I, sir?"

The teacher sighed, irritably nodding, "Make it quick."

Fenton pushed itself from its desk and began walking towards the classroom door. On its way there, it caught the eye of a dark-haired girl donning twenty-first century 'punk' style clothing. She mouthed to it, _'__Good luck'. _It nodded back and stepped through the threshold, into the school's hallway.

Once it was several feet from his classroom, Fenton broke into a room and careened into the boy's bathroom. Oddly, it glanced around, ensuring that it was alone deliberately breathed (again?) in relief. It turned to the mirror and Michael finally noted the ghost's appearance. It appeared male, with messy black hair and piercing blue eyes. It wore blue jeans, a white, cotton shirt, and red sneakers. A timeless, yet dated look. And not to mention, downright _peculiar_.

This ghost didn't look like a ghost; it looked much too lively to be anything but human. Unlike ghosts, this boy had a complexion that rivaled a human's and accurate body proportions. In other words, the boy in the mirror was abjectly _human_. So that meant that this person eventually died and became a ghost, and despite all research, could _remember_ his human life before he was a ghost.

Fenton raised his arms and muttered something under his breath. "Going ghost," he spoke. In the mirror, Michael saw a white ring appeared around his waist and then everything went black - the memory ended. _Just like that._

It was an abrupt stopping place, and Michael felt like he had been robbed; something had just been about to happen. What did that boy mean by 'going ghost'? What had been that ring of light? Michael didn't get much time to dwell on it, because as quickly as that memory ended, a new one started.

This time, Fenton was sitting in a dark, grimy room. He could tell that he was sitting on some sort of torn up mattress, but beyond that it was too dark to make anything out specifically. Fenton was shuddering, managing to keep himself upright but barely. He teetered back and forth on the mattress before hopelessly throwing his arms out beneath him, planking himself so that he wouldn't fall over. It was almost like he was injured….

Fenton groaned and bit back a harsh cry. He was still planking himself on his bed, refusing to lay down and too weak to sit up. Why wouldn't he just lay down on the bed? What was preventing him from doing so?

Fenton made an incomprehensible groaning sound before he mustered enough willpower to raise himself back into a sitting position once more. At that difficult exertion, he heaved until his breathing regulated into a steady rhythm. "Can't… lose track," he told himself quietly. His voice sounded raw and strained. "Four-hundred… sixteen."

From where he was sitting on the bed, Fenton managed to maneuver his legs over the edge of the mattress and use a nearby wall to pull himself into a standing position. His knees protested underneath him, wobbling under his full weight, but balance eventually won out. He stared at the barren floor as he crossed the room so Michael couldn't tell what he was walking towards… he had a feeling it wasn't good, though.

By the time Fenton looked up, he was standing at a wall far from where he had been… and Michael had to stifle a gasp. The wall was stained with hundreds of deliberate streaks of red and green fluids; rows upon rows of tally marks painted in both blood and ectoplasm. It was horrific and Michael was tempted to shut his eyes, yet he couldn't look away.

Fenton looked from the wall to his own shirt. Similar to the last memory, he was wearing a white shirt, however this one had a recognizable screen-print above his heart. This memory must be from when Fenton was a ghost because his shirt plainly said **'GIW Property'**.

Calloused hands shakily pulled Fenton's shirt up and Michael caught a glimpse of the ghost's torso… and suddenly it made sense why he hadn't wanted to lay down earlier. Parallel cuts evenly sliced across his stomach and around his ribcage, wrapping around his side and into his back. The oozed with rivets of red and green, blood and ectoplasm… _together_? How was that possible? Fenton was a ghost in the particular memory, correct? So how could he be bleeding blood? Unless… he was a special kind of ghost? A living ghost? That didn't make sense, though….

With one hand, Fenton held his shirt up and with the other he dug his fingers into one of the slices across his torso. He didn't even hiss, accustomed to the dull sensation of pain. When he retracted his fingers, glossy green fought with murky red and threatened to drip onto the floor. Fenton took his time finding a place on the wall and drew another tally mark, another day in captivity.

"'our-dred… s'teen," he muttered through clenched teeth, finishing the mark.

And with that, the memory faded. _Back to black._ And Michael was left stunned.

The next memory was from a child's perspective. In neither of the previous memories had Fenton been this short, so either everything was suddenly giant or Fenton was a child. He was standing in a living room (Michael had only seen rooms like this in history books), tracing his steps back and forth along white carpet. Fenton laughed as he rubbed his socks along the carpe, ran to the couch, and touched another young girl's shoulder. Michael couldn't feel it, but he could see the transfer of static electricity in the girl's irritated expression.

"Do you _have_ to do that?" she told him off. "I'm trying to _read_."

"Mom and Dad are still in the lab!" Fenton complained. "I'm _bored_ and you won't let me watch TV."

"The TV is loud and I'm trying to read," the red-haired girl repeated. "Go do something in your room. Mom and Dad will take forever anyways."

Fenton groaned. "I wanted to ask them a question, though!"

"Too bad," she rolled her eyes. "Just leave me alone."

And with those words, a door was slammed open in another room. Fenton turned and moments later, a couple wearing primitive HAZMAT suits walked into the living room. The woman was about four-foot-five, already much taller than Fenton; she wore a blue suit and red goggles that masked her eyes. The man on the other hand, was comparable to a living giant; he wore an orange suit and was at least two feet taller than his wife. Fenton obviously got his looks from his father - they both had black hair and the same striking blue eyes.

"Mom, Dad!" he said. "Jazz was being mean to me!"

The woman lowered her hood and goggles, revealing dark auburn hair and brown eyes. She raised a brow at her daughter, "Oh, was she?"

Jazz glared at Fenton, "No I wasn't! I only asked him to stop _messing_ with _me_!"

"She wouldn't let me watch TV and hid the remote!" Fenton protested. "_Mean_."

The man sighed, "Jazz, no hiding the remote. Danny, no bothering your sister."

_Danny_. So the ghost's (or whatever he was) name was Danny.

Jazz and Danny rolled their eyes, "Fine." Once their parents were satisfied, Jazz picked her book back up and did her best to melt into the couch.

"So, are you guys done with the lab tonight?" Danny asked.

The woman nodded, "We should be."

"What's up, Danno?" the man added.

Danny flustered, suddenly nervous. "Well, uh, I wanted to ask you guys something about ghosts."

At those words, both of his parents' eyes brightened. _Were his parents some early-era ectologists? _

"Really? What is it?" his Mom asked, eager.

"Just when we thought you'd lost interest in good ol' spooks!" his Dad hunched down and placed a comforting hand on Danny's shoulder.

From the couch, Jazz cautiously looked up from her book and asked Danny silently, '_Why?_'

"Does everyone become a ghost when they die? Or like…" he touched the back of his neck, "do you have to have a special kind of death?"

His Mom's expression softened, "Now that's a complicated one. It - well… _no_. Not everyone becomes a ghost when they die."

His Dad gave Danny's shoulder another squeeze before letting go. "When someone dies, their natural destination is the afterlife - whatever that may be. Ghosts are people who get lost on the way there, who feel conflicted about their deaths. Naturally, nobody wants to die, but people who _strongly_ have a reason to stay on Earth are usually the ones who become ghosts."

"Like people who are murdered," his Mom elaborated. "Or have unfulfilled wishes in life."

"Oh," Danny realized patiently. "So if someone gets really old and dies in the hospital then they probably won't become a ghost? Even if they have a bunch of family?"

His Dad frowned, "Probably not, son… is there anything else on your mind?"

Danny shook his head. "Not… not really. It's just Tucker's grammy and… he asked about her. I didn't know what to say so I thought…."

His Mom flinched in comprehension. "Tucker's grammy… it's probably best that she's in a better place, not stuck here. Even if it is a nice idea to get to see her again, she wouldn't be herself. Ghosts aren't the same after they die, testy, violent, unstable…."

Danny sounded unsure, "Even good people are bad ghosts?"

"It's not their fault," his Dad assured. "They're dead so they don't know who they were when they were alive. They may have been good people, but ghosts aren't people. That's the difference."

"Okay," Danny agreed. "I understand. Thanks Mom, thanks Dad."

Before they could respond, the memory ended. The next memory, Danny was facing that dark-haired, punk girl from the first memory. Her lips were drawn downwards in concern. From what he could tell, she and Danny were sitting on a roof somewhere, at night. Their legs were dangling off the edge, but neither seemed fazed.

"That was a close call, today," she murmured.

Danny shrugged. "Valerie only got a new upgrade. I'll be more prepared next time."

"Is that all you think about it? Are you really not worried?" she asked, taking Danny's hand and squeezing it. Danny was wearing white gloves that illuminated light across her skin. Wait, actually… it wasn't only his gloves - all of Danny was glowing. This was another indication that he should be a ghost, but after seeing his blood Michael wasn't entirely sure anymore….

"What do you want me to say?" he asked. "'_Oh no, this is too dangerous now! I should stop saving lives!_'", he paused, meeting her eyes. "I _won't_ stop."

"I know you won't," she shied away from him. "I just… _worry_ about you."

The words fell from his lips as easily as water slid from a leaf, "You don't have to. What I do is my own choice - I understand what could happen and I've _chosen_ to do this."

There was a beat of silence.

"That's what scares me," she reasoned, quietly. "Even though you understand what could happen to you, you don't stop. How often do you prioritize yourself, Danny? You… you don't have to let this burden take over your whole life. You know that, right?"

He took a few seconds to respond, but when he did his voice was almost as quiet as hers. "Of course I know that. I mean, you think I don't know how easy it'd be? How easy I could just… chase my dreams instead of this? I can _fly_, Sam. I can just let go of gravity and just soar up to the stars, touch them… _explore_ space. It's everything I've ever wanted, to go there. And… for me it'd be as easy as walking. But I won't, not now anyway. As long as there are ghost attacks, I have to stay grounded. For the people here, for Amity Park; for you and Tuck and my family…." He took a shaky breath, "I know that bad things _could_ happen, but if I don't fight then worse things will happen."

She laughed, hollow yet genuine. From the angle they were sitting, Michael could just barely make out the tears in her eyes, "Why do you have to be _so_ stubbornly noble?"

He shrugged. "I think Jazz has 'officially' diagnosed me with a hero complex," he offered. "Personally I think it's because ghosts tend to have obsessions."

So… he _was _a ghost? Well, clearly since he had to be a ghost to have had his memories recorded.

"I guess… that makes sense," Sam gave in, moving to grip Danny's hand again. She held on tightly and Danny squeezed back - both intimately accepted the severity of Danny's admission. And with that, a new memory took its place.

The setting dissolved and suddenly Michael was back in Danny's living room from before. He deduced that Danny was older than he had been last time he was in the living room since he was several feet taller. Even though years had passed, the room was more or less the same, save for a new couch and a thinner television monitor. Speaking of the television - _TV_, whatever it's called - Danny was standing aside his parents, watching the screen in (unsettled?) apprehension.

"-eaking News with Tiffany Snow and Lance Thunder! Today in Amity Park, a shocking revelation about our town's ghostly hero, Danny Phantom, has been exposed!" On the screen, a blonde woman gravely yet enthusiastically recited the hook. In the corner of the screen, a picture of a white-haired ghost wearing a black jumpsuit appeared.

Michael recognized him immediately; that was clearly Danny, but… in a more ghostly form? In the last memory, he had been wearing a black jumpsuit and in the first memory he had been about to _change_. It all made sense now, that Danny was a ghost with two appearances; ghost and human. And apparently his ghost appearance was named 'Danny Phantom'... an obvious moniker for Danny Fenton.

The man on Tiffany's left nodded and continued the story, "2pm this afternoon on the corner of Oakland and Kingsley Avenue, Phantom was shot down by local vigilante, the Red Huntress, as he attempted to battle a ghost dubbed 'Technus'. When Phantom took that hit, he was knocked at least thirty-feet out of the air and was pummeled into the concrete."

Tiffany picked up where Lance left off, "Exhausted from his fight against Technus and wounded from Red's attack, Phantom passed out. At that point, a crowd had already formed to observe the fight, and onlookers were shocked when Phantom unconsciously transformed into _someone_ else. When he was injured enough, Phantom changed back into a living, breathing _human_ \- not quite as ghostly as we initially thought."

Lance nodded, "After a few minutes, he woke up again and promptly fled the scene with aid from his ghostly abilities. Now, this individual has been identified as Daniel Fenton, an eighteen-year-old student as Casper High School, son of Jack and Madeline Fenton, local ghost hunters. We are yet to receive a statement from the police about bringing in Daniel for questioning, but at the moment we can infer that these events will certainly not be ignored."

Danny's eyes didn't leave the TV, frantically scanning the screen in disbelief. So when someone else turned the TV off, he recoiled in alarm. He looked up and his parents were staring at him in horror, shocked at the revelation. In his peripheral vision, a red-haired young woman - Jazz - held a remote-like object towards the television.

"Is it true?" his Mom whispered. Her eyes were glassy, clearly in denial.

Danny hesitated before shaking his head, "I - I, _no_. This isn't… _isn't_ real - happening-" he choked, beginning to hyperventilate. "I'm not Pha- _not_… a ghost."

Jazz moved swiftly, moving between Danny and their parents. "Danny," she reassured. She put a hand on his shoulder, "_breathe_."

"I - I - _can't_," his vision blurred, tears obscuring his clarity. "_Everyone_ knows. I'm gonna - gonna be-" he broke off, pushing himself away from his sister.

"Shh," she soothed, "it's going to be fine."

"Nothing will _ever_ be fine again-! I - I _messed up_," he stressed.

While Danny was panicking, his parents were still trying to process the news. "Danno?" his Dad asked, tentatively.

Danny met his parents' eyes with intense fear, and for a moment time seemed to stop. But then, Danny blinked rapidly and took even more steps backward. "You _know_," he addressed, weakly. "No, no, _no_-"

Even as Danny moved further from his family, Jazz stayed in pursuit. This time, she gripped his forearm. "Danny, _stop_. It's alright, they're just… processing."

He shook his head, not listening to her. "Mom, Dad - _I'm sorry_. So, so, so sorry."

And with that, the memory ended - no definite resolution. Michael was thrust into the next memory before he could comprehend that the scene from before had been cut off.

He was back in a classroom, but rather than a dull high-school classroom, the walls were slightly more colorful. There were more cheesy posters and classroom decorations. That, and the students around Danny were much younger - probably about eleven or twelve. Middle school…

Danny was paying attention to the lesson, listening with vexed interest as the teacher spoke. "-our unit in Greek Mythology. We'll take turns reading the story as a class and then partner up to finish the worksheet," a brown-haired woman instructed. She was at least in her mid-thirties and was wearing a long, dark blue dress. "Would anyone like to volunteer to read first?" When no one raised her hand, the teacher rolled her eyes. "Anyone who reads gets extra credit."

And with that, several students raised their hands. Danny wasn't one of them, but paid attention to the story, reading along with his classmates. A girl somewhere behind Danny began reading, "From the beginning, humans had trouble with the gods. Most gods thought of humans as toys. But some gods found themselves interested in the human race. Some gods even made friends with the humans. One of those gods was a titan named Prometheus."

Their teacher signalled for someone new to start each paragraph. A short boy with glasses picked up where the girl left off, "The first people created by the gods were more or less helpless, naive beings that roamed under the rule of the gods. Prometheus felt sorry for them. So against Zeus's wishes, he decided to give them fire. Fire was important for many things - like heat and cooking, and hundreds of others. Thus, Prometheus stole a lightning bolt from Zeus and gave it to mankind."

"Zeus was furious," a new voice continued. "He ordered Prometheus chained to a rock as punishment for stealing his lightning bolt, and for going behind his back to help the humans. To make Prometheus even more miserable, Zeus sent storms to beat angry waves against Prometheus, helplessly chained to his rock. Zeus even made the sun shine really brightly now and then to burn his skin."

There was a moment of hesitation before the last speaker was called on. A boy wearing a beret beside Danny pushed up his glasses and began to read, "But the worst of all was Prometheus's daily punishment; every day Zeus sent an eagle to eat Prometheus's liver. If this wasn't bad enough, his liver regrew overnight, and Prometheus would have to suffer the pain of his liver being clawed out over and over…."

Danny audibly gulped. "_Harsh_," he muttered, eyeing the boy beside him. "I'd hate to be that guy."

The other boy nodded, wordlessly and the memory changed.

The classroom faded away and was replaced with a concentrated, bright white light. It was blinding, hanging over Danny's face with an unwavering intensity. From what Michael could tell, he was on his back, but that wasn't very helpful in determining _what_ this memory was. Danny looked around feverishly, eyes darting to the corners of his vision, searching for something. But what? Why couldn't he just sit up?

"-et me… go," he rasped weakly. "_Please_."

A white glove hovered tentatively in Danny's field of vision before retreating. Cold voices lingered somewhere far behind him, and the light seemed to tilt. Danny's vision slowly descended into tunnel vision, and the ceiling rippled like the surface of a lake, from the perspective of someone submerged underneath.

"Specimen contained," someone whispered. "Its struggle has subdued."

"Vitals placated. Keep the drip steady, don't give it enough to knock it out - just calm."

The light moved. Someone took the lamp away, leaving a dark blemish in Danny's vision where the light had been before.

"This procedure will redefine _everything_ we know about ectoplasm and organic matter…."

Danny tried to speak, but all that left his lips was a warbled moan.

"It's still speaking," someone pointed out. "Should we risk increasing the relaxant?"

"No, no… we can just sever its vocal cords for now. Not like they won't heal by tomorrow, unfortunately. It can be _irritatingly_ noisy."

There was a clatter that seemed to echo, metal sliding against metal in a way that grated one's ears. Michael was tempted to tear his wirepods out just so he didn't have to hear it, but he persevered - let himself be lost in the memory. A gloved hand dipped into Danny's line of vision, poisely positioning a scalpel above his throat. The hand moved but not moved; it slid around in Danny's vision like paint running across a canvas, inching closer and closer and closer to Danny's throat. Once the looming threat registered, Danny groggily began to throw himself around again, trying to desperately avoid being… _being_-

The details were obscured in the memory, but the scientist carefully tore the knife across Danny's throat, severing his vocal cords with calculated ease. The pain was so intense that Danny's vision actually turned red, blackness edging at the corners of his eyes. And as his vocal cords were cut, Danny elicited one last earsplitting scream that was desperate and scared and _hurt_.

As the red in his vision began to fade, tears welled in Danny's eyes, effectively blurring his view of the ceiling and his surroundings. There was still a ringing in his ears, but under the sharp noise the scientists spoke, "Are all the tools ready?"

"Yes… _now_ we can begin…."

When everything faded to black, Michael exhaled in relief. That had… been intense - disturbing - horrifying-

_Inhumane_.

And it was the GIW. That procedure they performed on Danny was still substandard methods that the GIW used today. That's what the ghosts saw, felt, experienced when they researched - no, _tortured_ \- them. And that was something that Michael was a part of, willingly. Ignorantly.

He'd spent the past two years working at this organization as a trainee and he'd just let the scientists' mindless drivel about '_ghosts can't feel pain_' absolve him of his guilt. He'd been persuaded that ghosts were just mindless plants, unable of comprehending research - _science_. But Danny… this ghost from two-hundred years ago felt pain.

He could remember his human life, had friends and family. _Protected_ a town (Amity Park… sounded almost familiar?). He clearly had morals, insight, intelligence, _feelings_. And the GIW had disregarded that, used him to progress their research. Kept him in captivity for who knows how many years before stripping him to his core and _disposing_ of him. All while he was _sentient_.

Michael couldn't - _couldn't_-

He couldn't stay here, when he knew. When he knew what they were doing. This was too much. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he stayed.

When he realized that the disk had stopped, Michael shakily removed the Virtual Perceptor and wirepods, curling up in the office chair as he broke down. Finally, he regained enough sense to eject the disk from the old machine, and actually read the inscription printed on it. It was a gray disk, plain, archaic.

'**Disk 1/14 - 432004-DjFPh - 08-07-2012**'

There were more memories, more footage from Danny's life that Michael could watch. He could put the Virtual Perceptor back on and lose himself in Danny Fenton's life, immerse himself back in that captivating horror. He stretched his arms, leaning back in the office chair and breathing shortly through his nose. He didn't need much time to think about it.

Michael had already made his choice.


	17. Graduation

**Day Twenty-Three: Graduation**

**Word Count: 3256**

**Genre: General**

* * *

It was a warm morning, warm enough that everyone who braved the outside at least wore shorts and short-sleeves underneath their heavy, crimson gowns. The small football field was swamped with people: students, teachers, families, _extended_ families - the whole shebang. A platform had been rolled out beneath the goalpost, facing rows and rows of red, fold-out chairs that contrasted darkly against the grass. Someone unsuspecting would assume the grass was so bright because of the sunlight, but Casper High students knew that it was because Jack Fenton had sprayed the football field with an ectoplasmic agent to 'prevent plant ghosts'.

Overall, Casper High wasn't really a normal high school. So in that sense, no one expected this to be a normal graduation ceremony. Not with such recent events, anyway.

The graduating class was the first class to go through all four years since the ghost attacks had started; the first era of children who had to learn to duck under lunch tables and to anticipate bi-weekly evacuations. Fortunately, no students had been injured in attacks, even if they did interrupt their education. _Everyone was alive_. Well, almost everyone. But Danny… Danny Fenton was a special case.

It'd been two months since many of his classmates had seen him. Initially when the GIW arrived at the school, it was on grounds of 'spectral investigation'.Everyone assumed that meant they wanted to observe the frequent ghost attacks at the school. Instead, twenty agents surrounded Lancer's fifth period English class, slapped ghost-proof cuffs onto Danny's wrists, and dragged him out of the school. He put up a hell of a fight, as did other students, but they inevitably managed to get their filthy hands on him.

It was only later that they announced it; that Danny was a hybrid, dual-natured. That he doubled as their hero, Danny Phantom. And by then, he had been legally seized by the government. He belonged to them.

No one knew the details of what they did to Danny at the GIW. But the rumors delved into every horrific, inhumane possibility. Breaking all his bones to see if he could heal, cutting off his toes to see if they would grow back like a lizard's, scooping out his eyes and putting them in jars, tearing off his tongue so he couldn't scream, branding him with tattoos so he could never _truly_ escape…. Forcing him to fight in a ring against other ghosts, barbarically demanding that the winner cannibalizes the loser.

Also, poisoning, drowning, starving, water-boarding, raping…. And the most probable and probably most grotesque rumor was suggested by his two best-friends: vivisection without any anesthesia. Surgically tearing his body open, probing through his organs, pushing and pulling and snapping and _sawing-_

It wasn't long before people started protesting their hero's capture. Students ditched classes, the police department worked overtime, and Mayor Masters inserted himself in the fiasco, doing his best to bring Danny home. Sam Manson and Tucker Foley headed the activism while the Fentons worked out the legal technicalities. The media did its best to stay on top of things, but as the weeks passed Danny's story was slowly becoming less and less relevant. Until one weekend, specifically the weekend of prom, everyone's hard work seemed to pay off.

It was a memorable moment when Sam stepped aside to answer her cellphone, shakily eyeing the dance floor when her expression suddenly slackened. Everyone turned when she cried out, dropping her phone, and taking off in a mad sprint towards the gym doors. At one point her dress caught under someone else's feet, but she barrelled forward, not giving a damn about her dress. Tucker lingered behind, picking her cellphone off the ground before following her. And then, everyone knew. Her eyes had been relieved, thankful.

Danny was going to be okay.

The next morning, there was a news report that he'd been admitted to the hospital. He suffered from severe starvation, a major spinal injury, several broken (but supernaturally healing) bones, and blood loss from 'surgery'. Which obviously meant vivisection, but nobody was ready to call it that - even the media. What mattered was that Danny was in recovery and for the foreseeable future, he was free.

That had been four weeks ago. In that time, he'd regained his health and most of his major injuries resolved themselves. Well, except his spinal injury; that was a battle that would take time to face, unlike the others. It was a medical miracle that a normal person would _never_ be able to come back from, but thanks to Danny's ghost-half he would be able to heal his spinal injury in the same duration that it would take a regular human to heal a broken leg. The doctors didn't understand it, but everyone was grateful.

Even though his recovery rate was incredible, nobody expected Danny Fenton to be at graduation. In fact, many students speculated that he would probably have to walk with the next graduating class - after all, it's not like Danny exactly had stellar grades in the first place.

So when the Fentons arrived five minutes before the ceremony, it was a shock for most people.

Jack parked the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle as close as he could to the football field, knocking over at least two trash cans in the process. In a hurry, Maddie jumped out from the passenger seat and rushed to get Danny's wheelchair out of the back of the vehicle. Bystanders who saw the clamor quickly began to spread the word of their unexpected arrival. By the time Maddie wheeled Danny onto the field, people had managed to clear a path for them.

Everyone's eyes followed him onto the field, surveying his appearance. For the most part, Danny looked good, healthy if not for the wheelchair. He was wearing his graduation gown and cap, the long material obscuring his arms and legs. It was definitely a good thing, given how much scar tissue he was probably covering up. His hair was sleek and his face didn't show any blemishes. His baby blue eyes were somewhat neutral, neither traumatized nor elated - some took that as a good sign. Others, didn't know what to think. But for everyone, the atmosphere felt more or less the same: captivated by Danny's mere presence.

On such a momentous, exciting day the silence was almost eerie; one could hear a pin _drop_.

Maddie steered Danny beside the front row of chairs facing the platform. She positioned his chair to make sure he could see, ignoring his swipes to push her away. In response, she ruffled his hair in a loving gesture before sprinting towards the bleachers. Danny stiffened in his chair as he assessed all the eyes trained on him. He smiled awkwardly, glancing between the stage and the girl on his left, who was doing her best not to stare.

Gradually, the whispers began to swell.

"How is he even here-"

"-thought his legs were amputated or something-"

"-did he make his grades up? Missed over two months-"

"-a _thing_ like that shouldn't be allowed in a school event-"

"-shut the fuck up, he's a _hero_-"

"-he's actually okay!"

Danny did his best to ignore the murmuring around him, the hundreds of voices softly talking about _him_. He wrapped his hands in the material of his gown and stared straight ahead. He made it to graduation, that's all that mattered…. People were going to say things about him anywhere he did or didn't go; he just had to take it all with a grain of salt. People just weren't used to his secret yet. That and it was a pretty big shock when he was released from the GIW as injured as he was….

_This would go away._

"Are you okay?" someone implored.

He turned. The girl beside him was looking at him with genuine concern rather than blatant curiosity. She looked familiar, so he assumed that they had shared a class together at some point, but he couldn't remember what.

Danny forced a smile, "I'm good, thanks. Just… a bit overwhelmed at the attention? I'll get used to it."

She nodded, blushing for a moment. "Yeah," she moved a strand of hair out of her, "nobody really expected you to make it today. It's good you did, though. I'm guessing this means no summer school?"

He nodded, ignoring the soreness in his neck at the simple movement. "Yeah… I took some of my finals in the hospital. I missed a bunch of stuff but they figured that I had enough credits to graduate - so no summer school, and _thankfully_ no GED."

"That's good," she agreed. "You deserve to graduate with the rest of us."

He laughed, "Thanks. It still doesn't feel… still doesn't feel like I made it here. It doesn't feel _real_." Nothing had since his capture. "But I guess it'll sink in later."

She softened, "If it makes you feel any better, it doesn't feel real for the rest of us either." She looked to the stage where Lancer had taken the podium, silencing the entire field. Before he spoke, she whispered abruptly, "This is just trippy."

He couldn't agree more.

Lancer started his speech about change and how their class was one that he would severely miss. How their class was the first Freshman class that had to endure daily ghost attacks and was courageous enough to take a stand, each in their own way. That they were all brilliant, intelligent, and unique. And that he would miss them all, more than he had missed any other graduating class. It was a heartfelt summation, one that unexpectedly touched each and every student in the crowd. And then, he handed the microphone off the Principal Ishiyama.

She echoed Lancer's speech in her own words before allowing the Valedictorian (Mikey, of all people) to give a speech. Then, the podium was lent to a handful of students who had signed up to give their own graduation speeches. One of which, was Sam.

"At the beginning of Freshman year," she started. "I had two best-friends. One, as we all know _very_ well…" she paused, building anticipation, "has a hopeless infatuation with technology and meat that I will _never_ understand and has had my back for years. And then," she added, "I guess my other friend is Danny Phantom, or whatever."

The audience laughed and Sam smiled, grinning into the microphone with ease.

"Freshman year for everyone is hard, and I'm not going to degrade anyone else's struggles by comparing my experiences to others. But for us, High School was especially hard with our additional activities. Well, you know I mean ghost hunting," she shrugged. "I've been through a lot between now and Freshman year, I've seen and experienced a lot of changes. At the beginning of Freshman year, I was obstinate, stubborn, and close-minded towards anyone that didn't agree with me. I didn't know what it meant to truly stand up for someone else, I didn't know what it meant to believe in others - I only knew how to believe in myself.

"I've changed a lot since Freshman year, as has everyone else. Sure, I can say that I've changed because I'm older or - or because now I help fight ghosts. But that would be an overgeneralization. Truly, I have been able to become a better person because of the people around me. Even though I act like I dislike many of you, I've honestly found inspiration in others that have allowed me to be who I am.

"Such as when my grades began to slip at the beginning of Sophomore year. I didn't ask for help, refused help, and tried to hide my struggle from my friends and teachers. I was convinced that _I_ was the only person who could help me, that I was the only person who I could _depend_ on. But when I fought and fought to be ignored, left behind, my teachers here at Casper High were the ones who pulled me up again. Who supported me. And I hadn't even asked.

"And that's just one example of how this school has changed me for the better," she continued. "I have witnessed bravery in our students and staff so often that it just _baffles _me. So many of you that I have disrespected for not being 'unique' enough, for following the 'trends' are some of the most selfless individuals I've met. I've seen bullies grow up into people who stand in the way of kids who'd normally be their targets during ghost attacks. I've seen 'shallow' girls jump on the backs of government agents when they try to arrest a classmate. I've seen my best friend go through things that would make anyone else break, and still stand back up and fight for the people of this town. I've seen so much support in this school that Freshman me disregarded because I was too caught up in my own head.

"All of us have changed in a way for the better since Freshman year. And I think that's a beautiful thing," she concluded. And the field erupted in applause, enchanted by her honest yet touching words. Sam stepped away from the podium, slowly made her way off the the platform, and headed back to her seat. As she passed Danny, she playfully poked him in the shoulder, saying nothing.

Sam's speech was hard to follow. Only one more speaker succeeded her, and quickly wrapped up their spiel before Lancer returned to the podium. He placed a white binder on the podium and announced that the graduation was about to begin. And from there, he started calling names. The girl beside Danny was first: Abigail Abellera. She stood from her chair, straightened her gown, and shakily trekked up the stairs to the platform, crossing the stage, shaking Mr. Lancer's and Mrs. Ishiyama's hands, and leaving with her diploma. More names were called… "Henry Astor… Dashiel Baxter… Julia Carmichael… Tyrell Daves… Scarlett Esplin… Olivia Felder…."

And then suddenly, it occured to Danny how unfortunate it was that his surname started with the sixth letter in the alphabet.

Mr. Lancer hesitated when he read his name, "... Daniel Fenton."

And there it was again, the murmurs. People whispering about him once again. _Shake it off_, _ignore them_.

Danny rolled his chair forward. It was difficult to pull off since he was treading against grass, but he could manage it. It was possible. He slowly approached the side of the platform when he - and everyone else - realized the problem. There were stairs to the platform, not a ramp. His wheelchair couldn't go up the platform at all. _Shit shit shit_. This was so embarrassing, he didn't want to halt the ceremony-

_Then don't stop the ceremony_, a voice reasoned. _You don't _need _your wheelchair to get across that stage. You don't even _need_to walk. Just-_

Float.

It was an obvious solution. He didn't have anything to hide anymore, everyone knew he had powers. He wasn't going to act incapable.

(_I'm not going to be a burden, can't be a burden - can't be-)_

And after all, Danny didn't want to stretch out this ceremony just because the stupid government had decided that they wanted to break his lower spine.

He let go of his grip on the wheels and leaned forward. With a fierce tug on his core, Danny was upwards in a moment. He'd been practicing using his powers in his human form lately since his ghost form was out of commision for the moment, until his Mom and Dad deemed that his core was stable enough to transform. The crowd gasped when they registered what he had done, that he had just up and levitated out of his wheelchair like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Louder, _louder_ whispering. If they could even be considered whispers anymore.

Lancer looked like someone had struck him in the face, but nodded encouragingly towards Danny. Even though he was perturbed by Danny's sudden power exhibition, he waved his diploma in a 'come hither' motion.

So, Danny floated forward, hovering at least two feet above the stage. He caught a glimpse of the crowd and assessed their mixed reactions; some people were downright shocked, disgusted, angry; others - most - were entranced, captivated, curious, and humored.

_Just… just float over to Lancer, shake his hand, and take your diploma, _Danny told himself. _It'll all be fine. It _has_to be fine._

He stopped in front of Lancer, his gown seemingly swirling around his limp ankles. Lancer stood there for a moment, waiting. Someone coughed loudly and Danny realized that Lancer was handing his hand out to shake. Danny blinked rapidly and almost hit himself upside the head - _stupid Fenton, shake his hand!_

Danny shook Lancer's hand. The motion caused his gown to slide up his arm for a moment, revealing a nasty cluster of scars six inches below his elbow. Once Danny realized they were exposed, he shook Lancer's hand vigorously and quickly, trying to shake his sleeve back down so no one saw. Lancer let go of Danny's grip and slowly handed him his diploma, taking his sweet time.

"You earned this," Lancer breathed, doing his best not to let the microphone catch his words. His eyes expressed unbridled pride that Danny didn't know how to accept. "I'm proud of you."

Danny blinked in response, taking his diploma in his own hands and numbly floating from his teacher to his principal. Ishiyama smiled at him, patiently. He shook her hand, and tried to subtly return to his wheelchair, all the way on the other side of the stage. Danny ceased his levitation and slumped into his wheelchair harshly, sending sharp tremors of pain from his spine throughout the rest of his body. Right… his spinal injury… _duh_.

By the time he returned to his seat, Lancer had called the next graduate up to the stage. Seth Fisher shook Lancer's hand much faster than Danny had, swiftly escaping the audience's attention. Unlike he had - basically stealing the entire show by displaying his powers in the flashiest way possible.

That was going to mortify him forever.

"You got this," Abigail whispered, sensing his panic.

She was right. This shouldn't bother him. But the more and more he dwelled on those judgemental faces in the audience-

_"__Tucker Foley."_

Danny readverted his attention back to the stage. _Tucker_. His best-friend was walking across the stage now. This was something that they had anticipated for… almost their entire lives. Graduation - the end of their education. The beginning of the real world. And now it was Tucker's moment, although fleeting, _it was his_.

He shouldn't dwell about what people thought about his powers. They helped Danny get to the end, they bridged the gap between his life before high school and his future. Even though everyone knew about them now… they couldn't change the fact that Danny was Phantom and now he was free. Free to live the rest of his life as himself. They couldn't stop him. High school had taught him many lessons, and like Sam said, he had changed _so_ _much_ since Freshman year.

He wasn't going to let others condemn him for changing and pursuing his future. Especially the goddamn Guys In White. Because now he was ready for his next chapter and whatever that held.

"Congratulations to the Class of 2008!"

Things had changed severely in the past two months since his capture and that was okay. He was prepared for what was next.


	18. Blood Blossoms

**Day Twenty-Five: Blood Blossoms**

**Word Count: 4486**

**Genre: Hurt/Comfort**

* * *

It was a slow night, for once. So, Valerie figured she'd wrap things up early and go home to and maybe catch the new episode of her favorite romance drama. She usually never had the chance to watch it live and had to pirate it. It'd be nice to watch it on TV for once so she didn't have to worry about viruses.

Thankfully, since it was summer Valerie could spare an hour or two to TV. She wasn't obligated to study at the expense of her sleep schedule and actually had time to catch her breath. No homework, no peer pressure, no battling the social hierarchy - all Valerie had to worry about was her part-time job and keeping Amity Park safe from ghosts. Sure, that wasn't the easiest burden - but it was much simpler when she didn't have to worry about _school_.

Valerie positioned her jet-sled and leaned into the motion, cutting through the air with no resistance. Just for kicks, Valerie did a simple spin with her board, keeping her eyes steady on the gray horizon, an orange pinprick masked by layers of gray. It was a cloudy evening, maybe it was going to rain soon? That would be nice, it hadn't rained in a while… not since that weather ghost decided to make it rain for two weeks straight until she intervened.

That had been a long, _weird_ fight. But she'd managed.

Just as Valerie approached her apartment, her suit decided that now was a _wonderful_ time to announce that a ghost was near. _Great, just great. _Just when she was _so close_ to watching her show! She blamed Murphy's Law.

Well, she might as well get this fight done quickly. The show was on in less than ten minutes now, and she had been hoping to make some popcorn too…. (_Popcorn can wait until the first commercial break,_ she reasoned.)

She glanced at her GPS and it guided her towards Amity's local cemetery. _How cliche_. Well, now that Valerie thought about it, she'd rarely encountered any ghosts near a cemetery before. Whatever a ghost was doing near a cemetery was bound to be interesting, wasn't it? Given that Amity's ghosts typically didn't wander there...

Valerie swooped down over the cemetery, flying parallel to the rows of graves. Her GPS said that the ghost was near here… so where was it? She didn't see a ghost, unless the ghost… was underground with its body? No, no that couldn't be it. She shook her wrist, trying to knock some sense into her GPS. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly the most accurate device whenever she needed it in times like these. She'd have to get her benefactor to look at it sometime soon.

After some prompting, the GPS beeped, recalibrating itself. It pointed towards the gate of the cemetery, and Valerie followed in pursuit. She kept her blaster near, ready to combat whatever opponent that decided to test her today.

Valerie hovered close to the gate, peering over the fence and watching the entrance to the cemetery from the inside of the graveyard. She could hardly make out an ethereal figure, pacing back and forth in front of the gate, maintaining at least three feet off the ground. It floated slowly, but Valerie could see its aura flicker with irritation, impatience. That alone was definitely a red flag… even though it was oddly not attacking? Valerie was about to confront it until the ghost's face came into focus - and she froze.

_Danny._

Danny Fenton's ghost, the boy with bleached white hair and unnatural green eyes; a black t-shirt that was too much like the white-shirt he wore when he was alive; tan pants that had once been jeans; and that subtle curve of his nose, his complexion splashed with those radioactive, green freckles. It was certainly _him_ alright.

She had seen Danny once since that first night she encountered him in the sky. He had been stargazing again, floating with his back to the Earth, reaching a hand out into space. She watched him try to cradle the stars and decided that after she had interrupted his last stargazing sessions that… that she would leave him alone. That she would trust him to return to the Ghost Zone in peace. That she would let him have that intimate moment with his obsession, alone.

Danny wasn't like the violent ghosts that plagued Amity Park. He was just a boy that died too young, that never had the chance to follow his dreams, that never got to become an astronaut. And so, just for him… her old classmate… Valerie would turn a blind eye.

And now he was here, at the cemetery. Rather than in the sky, he was growing irritable as he fruitlessly wandered around the gate to the cemetery. If he was obsessed with space, then why would he visit a graveyard anyway? It wasn't like he had anyone to visit except - _oh_. Himself. Danny Fenton was buried at this cemetery, she remembered. She _had_ been at the burial, after all.

Once the realization sunk in, Valerie couldn't refrain from loosening her grip on her blaster. Her blaster threatened to jump from her grip and banged against the bottom of her board, creating a hollow, metal noise. She winced, realizing that she'd blown her cover. Danny looked up from his trance-like pacing and turned towards Valerie. He must've seen her looking over the fence, because he drew his eyebrows in confusion, "Valerie?"

_Ah_, so he remembered her. She hadn't been sure that he would be able to remember, given how fickle names and faces were for ghosts.

She was grateful that she was wearing her helmet, because no doubt she was blushing right about now, "Uh, hi Danny," she fired up her board, moving from behind the fence to just outside the gate. She maintained her board a few feet above the ground so that she was at Danny's eye level, "I uh… noticed there was a ghost here and… yeah. Didn't realize it was you?"

His aura softened, annoyance receding into fondness. "Hi. So I guess you're still not…?"

She shook her head, making a point to hide her blaster. "No, no. You're still good," she assured him. "I know you mean well."

"Thanks," he nodded.

There was an awkward tension, filling the space between them. Danny seemed liquid, fluid, moving around in the tension with a blissful ignorance. For Valerie, the silence was perturbing. "So, what are you doing?" she asked. "Not up in the sky tonight?"

He deadpanned, gesturing up, "Have you seen the sky?"

On instinct, she looked up anyway. And she remembered, it was cloudy tonight - of course it was an awful time to stargaze. "Don't get the weather forecast in the Ghost Zone, I'm guessing?"

At that, he laughed. "Yeah, it sucks not knowing what it's like out here. I was looking forward to seeing the stars tonight… but oh well. Can't change the sky. If I had weather powers like Vortex maybe I'd be tempted…" he trailed off, laughing nervously, as if he was afraid she'd attack him for that confession. He changed the subject, "I figured I'd come visit myself before I returned to the Ghost Zone. A lot of the other ghosts say finding your grave is therapeutic so I thought I'd give it a shot."

"Therapeutic?" she raised a brow. He stared at her blankly and she realized that he still couldn't see her face, so she retracted her helmet. Her hair decided to be a pain and splay over her face, so she brushed it away.

"Yeah, therapeutic," he confirmed. "Like finding some sort of peace within your soul… making it easier to accept that you're gone. And all that other poetic stuff about death," he rolled his eyes.

"So do you think it's true?" Valerie asked. "That you'll be able to find rest at your grave?"

The idea of Danny moving on to the afterlife was nice, since that meant he'd finally be able to find peace in his untimely death, but in a way Valerie was selfish; even though Danny's ghost was restlessly drawn to the stars, it was kind of… nice to have him around, to know that he wasn't completely vanished from this world.

"I don't know," he admitted. His aura seemed to recoil before settling back into its regular radiance. "It'd be nice… but I don't think _I'm_ ready to move on."

"Is that why you're pacing outside the gate?" she wondered. "If you want, I can wait with you here until you're ready to go in," she offered.

"Actually, uh," he raised his hand to the back of his neck, "it's not that I'm not ready. I _can't_ get in. I tried opening the gate and phasing through it but… it's like there's some sort of invisible wall."

Invisible wall?  
"Do you… have any ideas _why_? Cause uh, it's probably a ghost thing since I was able to fly over the fence," she pointed out.

"Yeah… I guess it may be because some sort of universal law that doesn't want me near my body? But that sounds really stupid though. I can't think of anything else," Danny sagged.

"I've never heard of anything like that," she seconded. And with that, Valerie landed her board on the sidewalk and approached the gate, ready to investigate…. _An invisible wall_, Danny had said. Valerie almost doubted it, but if she was right… she had an explanation for why he couldn't enter the cemetery.

Valerie walked along the perimeter of the cemetery fence, trying to find a sign, any indication that she was right. And not very far from the gate, she found it. A chunky metallic box wired to the fence, aggressively humming with electricity. On the side of the contraption was a signature logo, that damning brand of ghost technology that often did Valerie more harm than good: FentonWorks. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton - Danny's _parents_ \- had installed a ghost shield at the cemetery.

"What's that?" Danny trailed behind her, quite literally. His legs blurred into a spectral tail, lagging behind him as he moved forward.

Her mouth suddenly felt dry. "It's… a ghost shield. That your parents installed," she added.

His eyes widened with recognition. "My parents?" he moved closer to examine the angry box. "They made that?"

"Well, yeah," she explained nervously. "After you opened the portal, they threw themselves into their work to grieve and to protect the town. They've produced a lot of stuff."

"And it actually works," he smiled. "Mom and Dad's inventions really work against ghosts, against me." Danny started laughing. His eyes flared a brighter shade of green. "And Jazz and I thought that they didn't!"

"When they started selling them, people around town had the same reaction," Valerie commented dryly.

"I'm just glad that… that their stuff works. I always doubted them, but it turns out that they're a lot more incredible than I knew. I'm just happy that their life's work isn't a bust, that they're amounting to what they _want_ to do in life." His grin receded for a moment, and he seemed wiser. More serious, older. "Whatever you do in life Val, just make sure that you do what you really want before it's too late. You never know when later becomes never."

Such advice from someone who was supposed to be the same age as her, someone who would likely be carefree if he hadn't died, felt _wrong_. Someone that young shouldn't be preaching about lost opportunities, but he was. Because he had his life taken from him at fourteen, before he _could_ do anything.

"I - I will," Valerie promised. She didn't even know what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, but it felt important that she swore herself to this.

"Alright," Danny relaxed. "Cool. So… I guess I also can't visit my grave, huh?" He ran a hand through his ashen hair, "_Ancients_, I should have just stayed in the Zone tonight. No stars, no grave…."

Danny couldn't visit his grave because of the ghost shield, not because of some divine force preventing him from floating into the cemetery. His only problem was actually crossing the barrier, since ghosts could be trapped on either of a shield - he just needed help getting from one side to another…. And Valerie could be that help.

"Do you trust me?" she asked suddenly.

He regarded her apprehensively, "Yeah, why?"

"I have an idea, and you have to promise not to freak out," she explained. "I can get you to your grave."

He raised a brow, "Really? You have a way past the shield." He narrowed his eyes, "You aren't going to break it, are yo-?"

"No, no breaking," Valerie shook her head. She fumbled on her belt, searching for what she was looking for. She unclipped it and held it out. Her very own Ghost Thermos, her benefactor's version of the Fenton Thermos. "We'll use this."

"That is a soup can," Danny observed.

"No. Well, yes. But it's a device that traps ghosts."

"Oh." Subconsciously he seemed to float a few inches back. "And you want to use that on me because…?"

She thought that he would get it, but Valerie found herself explaining, "If I capture you in this, I can get you past the ghost shield. It'll only be for a second," reassured. "You know that I don't care about capturing you for real or I'd have done it already."

"That's…" he hesitated, "true. I've heard that getting stuffed into those things really _aren't_ fun, but if you can get me across the shield then I guess it's worth a try?"

"Okay," she nodded, clasping the thermos tentatively. "Just tell me when you're ready."

He still seemed reluctant, his tail flicking back and forth nervously. "Does it hurt to be sucked inside that?"

Valerie had never really thought about it. Whenever she captured ghosts she was more concerned with detaining them than making sure that they weren't being harmed. "I don't know," she answered honestly. "Usually I capture ghosts when they're causing destruction, so I've never taken the time to notice."

"Ah," he assessed. "Well, that's _helpful_."

"Sorry," she shrugged.

"It's - it's fine," Danny decided, doing his best to relax. It was clear from how his aura was fluctuating that he was scared, but he was doing his best to quell that. "Just go ahead and do it."

Before she could convince herself this was a bad idea, Valerie jammed the button on the side of the thermos and it sprung to life. A blue stream of light jetted outwards, encircling Danny and gradually pulled him into the thermos. He elicited a startled yelp, but otherwise didn't sound hurt. She hoped he wasn't. She'd feel really guilty for forcing it upon him if he was hurt.

So, with the thermos under her arm, Valerie abandoned her board on the sidewalk and entered the cemetery by foot. Once she knew she was a certain distance from the perimeter of the cemetery and the ghost shield, Valerie held the thermos out in front of her and pressed the opposite button to release Danny. He was ejected as easily as he had been captured. His body stretched out in front of Valerie, taking a moment to fully materialize.

"That sucked," he groaned. "Remind me to _never _do that again."

Valerie pursed her lips. She hadn't realized before, but to get him _out_ of the cemetery, she'd have to transport him in the thermos again. But… she didn't necessarily have to break that to him _now_. "Alright," she nodded, biting her tongue.

"So," he fidgeted, drifting beside her. His tail split back into two separate limbs, legs. "Do _you_ know where my grave is?"

She raised a brow, "You don't?"

"Well _I _wasn't at my own funeral." He paused, clarifying, "Well, I was. But _I_-I wasn't there. I was in the Ghost Zone trying to figure out what the hell had just happened to me."

"That's fair. But I uh… I really don't remember which direction you're buried," she admitted. "It was a while ago and I'm not familiar with the cemetery."

Danny processed her words and almost laughed. He held a hand to his chest and grinned, "Aw, so you _did_ come to my funeral? Sweet of you. I wasn't sure."

"Everyone came," she recounted. Valerie decided to start walking right, where it looked like the graves were newer. With any luck, Danny's grave would be in that direction. He followed, lingering over her shoulder. She turned back to him, "Almost the entire grade showed up. People didn't just… ignore your death. You know that, right?"

"It's hard to wrap my mind around," he shrugged. "No one especially cared about me when I was alive except Sam and Tucker. How are they, by the way?" he added.

"I don't talk to them, but they don't really hang out anymore. After you died they sort of parted ways, but I think they're still on good terms. Sam hangs out with the other goth girls and Tucker has joined the other geeks. Sam doesn't seem any different, but she's clearly taking your death hard, silently. And Tucker…" she struggled with the right words, "he's a lot more vulnerable. That's for sure."

"Oh." He looked up at the cloudy sky for a moment, blankly staring into the gray. "Truthfully I didn't know what I expected. I want them to move on from me, but I never wanted them to lose each other. That's sorta… wow."

"It's life," Valerie consoled softly. "Friendships change whether we want them to or not. Hell, two years ago who woulda thought that I'd be friends with you?"

Danny froze. "We're friends?"

Valerie was suddenly uncertain. "Well, yeah? I assumed-"

"Oh, okay then. Sorry. I… ghosts usually don't have ghost hunters befriending them. I just wasn't…"

"No, I get it," she assured. "Really, you're the only ghost that I've really taken the time to listen to. Well, since meeting you I've tried to be more approachable. But I haven't really met the right ghosts yet."

"I understand," he nodded.

From there, they walked in silence, weaving between graves and searching for Danny's tombstone. And after a few more minutes of looking, they found it.

"This is it," Valerie realized, reading the epitaph before Danny. She watched as his eyes scanned the stone, how he unconsciously clenched his hands into his shirt.

"_Here lies Daniel James Fenton, beloved son and brother, taken from this world far too soon…._" he read. "_May 25th, 2002 to July 28th, 2016…._ How long has it been since then again?" he wondered. "My sense of time is…" he gestured with his hands, pointing in every direction.

"It will be three years next month," Valerie replied. "It feels longer, yet not like any time has passed at all…. Funny how that works."

"It really is," he agreed, numbly. She observed his aura, how it seemed to grow and grow, as if he was on edge. Waiting. _Anxious_. They were still a good five feet away from his grave, keeping enough distance as if the grave would collapse if they got too close. This moment felt breakable, fragile. And neither of them were brave enough to terminate that.

"What now?" Valerie asked. "Do you… feel anything?"

Danny moved his hand to his throat. "No… and yes. I don't feel any peace. I feel like… this… _tingling_. It's weird. I'm not sure if it's good or bad. Should I…-" _get closer?_

She nodded slightly, keeping her eyes trained steadily on the grave as if something were to happen. And with that confirmation, Danny slowly floated forward. He gradually reached to touch his gravestone, and barely traced his fingers along the stone when a sudden cry ripped through his throat. It was raw and _agonized_ and it completely caught Valerie off-guard. For a moment, she suspected Danny was faking this display of pain, however when he dropped to the ground she realized that something was _really _wrong.

Danny curled up in the dirt, whimpering on top of his own grave and Valerie didn't know what was wrong. He'd been fine one moment but when he touched his grave he completely _flipped_. Something was hurting him, but Valerie didn't know what.

"_Danny_," she moved forward. She crouched down and attempted shaking his shoulder but Danny dissolved under her hands like a mist. "What's wrong!?"

He sputtered, coughing. _Ghost didn't have lungs_. Something was wrong with Danny - something was _wrong_-

"Burns…" he hissed, eyes wide with pain. "Meh side _burns_."

"Wh - what is it?" she tried, not knowing what to do. She didn't know what was wrong with him and she couldn't even touch him. _This was bad this was bad this was-_

Breathe.

Evaluate.

_Act._

She hunted ghosts, she should be prepared to deal with a dire situation like this without panicking. She could _do_ this.

"-si - side," Danny rasped again, writing on the ground. As the seconds progressed, he seemed less and less aware of his surroundings. Was this death for ghosts? This certainly couldn't be how ghosts 'passed on' into the afterlife. This was violent, horrendous. Something was interfering with Danny, messing with him, and she had to figure out what before it was too late.

He was talking about his side, _only_ his side. So perhaps what was hurting him was physical? Was there even anything touching his side? Valerie couldn't tell, because his side was touching the ground; he was laying on top of whatever was hurting him. She couldn't move Danny because he had gone intangible, for whatever reason. However, if she couldn't touch Danny, that meant that she should be able to reach through him and touch whatever is beneath him, she should be able to remove the thing hurting him.

Valerie moved her hand carefully, hesitantly reaching through Danny's misty form. As her hand touched him, Danny elicited another raw cry, his voice cracking as he struggled with the pain. Valerie grit her teeth and tried feeling for whatever was digging into Danny's side and hurting him. _The catalyst_. Whatever had started this….

Her hands brushed against something waxy, cool. It felt soft between her fingers, easily tearable. There was nothing else on the ground except for grass; this must be it. Valerie grabbed a fistful of whatever it was and pulled on it, pulling it from off the ground _through_ Danny's intangible body. As her hand and the object passed through his form, an even more _miserable_ scream tore through Danny's throat. It was much throatier and louder than his previous cries, and it took all of Valerie's willpower not to clam up right there.

She pulled her hand out of Danny's body and with that, his entire body fell limp on the ground. He was still conscious, obviously still pained, but he wasn't struggling anymore. Valerie turned over her hand and looked at the object in her palm, the thing that had caused Danny severe agony.

It was a rose. Well, it resembled a rose. Now that she examined it closer, it wasn't _exactly_ a rose, but definitely similar. It was a dark, red flower accentuated with thorns so dark that their pigment almost looked purple. It was a pretty flower, but something about it… felt sinister.

"What is this?" she wondered aloud. How could a flower of all things affect Danny like that? Was it a flower that had special properties against ghosts? And if so, what was it doing on Danny's grave? Wait, no. That wasn't a difficult question; Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were notoriously precautious when it came to ghosts. It wasn't so far-fetched to assume that they left a ghost-repelling flower on Danny's grave on purpose, possibly to ward off any spirits that might interfere with their son's grave. That made much more sense than Valerie expected it to, so she decided to roll with that explanation until she was told otherwise.

Danny groaned incoherently, trying to sit up but physically unable to. Ghosts usually bounced back from from her equipment, so that flower must really have a deadly blow to it.

"Are you… going to be alright she asked?"

He didn't look like he would be. His entire complexion was wrong, and his aura was practically nothing.

"I needa… Ghost Zone…" Danny slurred. "I du - dunna… w'at got me…"

"It was a flower," Valerie dismissed. "Probably from your parents. Why do you need the Ghost Zone? Danny, I don't think you can make it there."

His eyelids were glazed over in discomfort, but he pushed through it. He managed to respond, loosely digging his fingers into the dirt. "-ost Zone heals… 'm hurt."

"I know you're hurt, dummy," she stated impatiently. "But _how_ am I going to get you to the Ghost Zone? You clearly can't do it yourself!"

"F - entan… Work_s_…." he tried, as if that gave Valerie all the answers. She knew he was injured, but his vagueness _wasn't _helping.

"How the hell do _I_ get into FentonWorks?" she pointed out.

By now, it was clear that Danny didn't have much juice in him. Ghosts rarely fell unconscious, but she could tell Danny was on the verge… "Re - red."

Red Huntress. Well, _duh_. She was the Red Huntress - she could use that as her alibi to smuggle Danny back into the Ghost Zone. She'd never directly interacted with the Fentons, but tehy had an understanding that they both wanted to protect Amity Park. Even though Jack and Maddie often slacked in the hunting department, they made up for it with their ingenuity. So, she could ask them to let her deposit a ghost into her portal… a 'dangerous' ghost. That… that might work.

"Okay," she nodded to Danny. His eyes were already closed, but his hand twitched in comprehension.

He made another choking noise before croaking, "D - don't let 'em know i'm… they'll n- not like… _gh_ost me… keep me 'way… i won't… re - re _-sist_ talk… to them." He didn't want his parents to know he was a ghost, but he also didn't trust himself not to speak to his parents if he saw them. At least… at least he knew himself enough to warn her.

"I will," she whispered softly. She pulled out her thermos again, ready to capture Danny so she could conveniently carry him to FentonWorks with her.

Despite his pain, a trace of a smile graced his lips, "I know. I - I trust you."

And then Valerie hit the button. If she didn't play this right, Danny wouldn't last much longer. But Valerie was going to get Danny to safety, resolve this disastrous mess that they had endured in only a few short moments. She was willing to go to any length for him; and it was funny, how she hadn't how much she trusted him, as well.


	19. Speak to Me

**Day Twenty-Six: Ghost Speak**

**Word Count: 3150**

**Genre: General**

* * *

It was a single moment. A few strands of words that played to the ear in a different way, a cadence so foreign that it must be otherworldly. And to a listening ear, it was familiar. Yet, she still didn't know what it meant. Nor how somehow like him could know such a language. But she was determined, determined to learn how _he_ knew. Humans simply didn't know the language of the dead, ghost speak. So how did Danny Fenton, a loser by all accounts, know how to speak it?

Star Evans knew already: she was going to find out, and she was going to make him tell her. And if she could persuade him, offer a good incentive, perhaps he could even teach her how to communicate with the dead.

With this in mind, she evaded Paulina's odd glare and tiptoed around Danny's desk before he had the chance to pack up his things. Nothing was different about him today; he was still the same skinny, fatigued nerd that was skittish around adults, that always made excuses to skip class to do who knows what. Star knew that he wasn't shooting up, at least. Fenton wasn't the type - he was too spineless to do drugs.

Really, the only thing different about him today was the short exclamation that he'd muttered under his breath, that was _just _loud enough for Star to hear it three desks away. An otherworldly language comprised of hissing and static and syllables that couldn't be spoken - she'd tried.

Danny seemed to notice that she had targeted him. _Good_. Now hopefully Star could get something out of him before his goth little girlfriend noticed and whisked him away….

His grip on the strap to his purple backpack tightened and he seemed to glance between Star in the door, already planning his escape. Danny bit his lip and gave a frustrated huff when she didn't back down, standing firmly in front of him. Star almost smirked, she wasn't going to let him get away that easily. She needed this. She needed to _know_.

"Do you want something, Star?" he asked, finally.

"Yeah, actually," she said, deliberately pulling down a strand of her hair and twirling it, firmly, wrapping it around her finger. "I heard you talk in ghost speak, or whatever it's called earlier. I was just wondering how you knew it."

And with that, his entire demeanor slackened. His eyes widened with panic, his breath hitched abruptly, and his fingers dug into his backpack so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Even his face was pale, well paler than usual. Star hadn't thought Fenton could _be_ paler than he already was, but apparently he could be - now he was white as a sheet! It was almost uncanny. She hadn't even expected the question to startle him so much, but at least this reaction was a definite confirmation; that he _did _know ghost speak.

"Ghosts? I said something about ghosts?" he played dumb, quite poorly. Who ever had taught him to lie had done a _horrible_ job - what a wreck!

"You spoke in ghost language, I'm not stupid," she rolled her eyes, leaning against a nearby desk for emphasis. "After Lancer asked for homework, you said something under your breath in ghost speak."

"Like… you mean the language that ghosts talk? I don't - don't know that," he denied.

She deadpanned, "How do you know it, Danny?"

He purposely circumvented eye contact, figuratively burning holes into the ceiling when he protested, "I don't!"

No wonder this boy couldn't navigate himself in a social situation if he was _this_ bad of a liar. She almost felt a little bad for him.

"Really?" she tried a different tactic, "Look, Danny. I'm not like… gonna spread rumors that you know a creepy language. I just want to know how you learned it because I'm sort of interested in that stuff." She'd get to the part about how she wanted to learn it herself _after_ he admitted he knew it. One step at a time.

Still, he continued to weakly try to evade admission. Even though he sucked at lying, at least he was stubborn. "I didn't learn it!"

She groaned, "Goddamnit stop making this a big deal! How did you learn-"

He was frustrated too, frustrated of her persistence. And it showed, "-because it was just in my head!" he cried.

That there. _That_ was something. And now they were _getting_ somewhere.

Star grinned, addressing his slip up, "What do you mean 'it was just in your head?'"

He flustered, squirming around in Star's palm, trying to wriggle himself out of her grip. But it was no use, because he had given a partial truth. There was no way out now but the truth. And they both knew that, or so Star hoped…. After all, it would be much faster if Fenton just came clean.

He shook his head, "I - I don't-"

Star pondered, weighing what she knew aloud, "So from what you're saying, you never _learned_ ghost speak. Somehow you just knew it? How does that work? Hmm…."

And at that, Fenton finally seemed to realize that his only route was confession. He let go of his backpack and his shoulders slumped in surrender. Although his body had given up, his face was still drawn with stress and apprehension. "I… sure, I do know ghost speak. Since you won't _drop it_."

He looked around. They were still standing in the classroom, alone. Everyone else had left for the day and even Lancer had reported for bus-duty, not due to return until all the buses left. Confident that nobody was listening, Danny dropped his backpack back onto the floor and slid into a nearby desk.

Star took the seat beside him, swinging her legs aside so she was facing Danny directly. "And? How is it just in your head? I'm _interested_, Danny," she reiterated.

He bit his lip, anxiously. Fenton carefully rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, you see… ghost speak was put into my head because…" he struggled, "it happened when I first came in contact with a ghost?"

Now she was more confused. "What? Do you mean like… overshadowed?" He seemed uncertain of what he was saying, but that seemed like the most logical interpretation. His convoluted words suggested that he didn't know much about ghosts at all. He was a Fenton for Christ's sake, shouldn't he know the term for overshadowed?

His eyes lit up with recognition, "Yeah! Overshadowed! Tha - that's it," he said to himself. "Well, uh, one day a ghost overshadowed me and then suddenly I just knew ghost speak! They must've just left it behind…" he laughed. "I don't want anyone to think I'm weird, _especially_ my parents. So could you not tell anyone? Like…. _any_ living soul?" he added.

She nodded, agreeing to his terms, "I guess." She paused, testing the waters, teasing, "What about _dead_ souls?"

Danny froze for a moment before comprehending her cheesy joke. "_Hilarious_."

"So which ghost was it?" she asked, before the conversation drifted too far away from the topic she wanted to discuss.

Danny blinked at her, emptily. "What."

"Which ghost overshadowed you?" she specified.

"Oh, _that_. I uh - uh well - uh… -antom?"

"Huh?" she asked, not sure if she had heard correctly.

"Phantom," he emphasized deliberately. "To uh… get me out of the way of a ghost fight. I was standing around and debri started falling towards me and uh…" he mimicked the movement of debri with his hand before giving up and letting his arm fall flat. "Yeah, to get me out of the line of fire Phantom overshadowed me and flew me somewhere safe. Ever since I woke up, I've had ghost speak in my head," he finished lamely. "Sometimes I uh, slip into it. Like I did today."

"So all I have to do is get Phantom to overshadow me?" Star put together, rhetorically. Phantom was elusive, but if he of all ghosts could practically _install_ ghost speak in her head then she would find him. She needed to know ghost speak.

His eyes widened. "Wh - why would you want that?" He coughed, "I mean… do you _want_ to know ghost speak?"

He posed the question as if he hadn't been apart of their conversation for the past three minutes. She regarded him oddly, "Well, _duh_. That's why I was asking you in the first place."

His mouth seemed to silently form an 'o' shape as her words registered. "You… want to know how to talk to ghosts? You realize that most of them speak English, right?" Then, he added, "And about Phantom, well," he laughed, "I don't think he's going to overshadow you. It's well, he came back later and apologized because it's not something he likes doing…. And I wouldn't ask either because he gets _super_ offended," he stressed, almost too much.

"Oh," she frowned. "But… can you teach me then? It's in your head, so that means that you can still teach, right?"

Danny seemed taken aback, unsure of how to react to her eager thirst for education. "But why do you _want_ to learn? I don't really see the purpose…." he trailed off.

"Well," she looked away, averting her eyes towards Lancer's desk, "there's _sorta_ a ghost in my house. I don't… don't want him hunted. I just want to talk." She gripped her hands on the edge of her desk. Telling Danny _Fenton _this was probably a bad idea, but… if she persuade him, she could confide a few secret of her own. "But he's only been speaking in ghost and I don't know how to get past the language barrier."

The nights in her bedroom, the perpetual feeling of being watched. A soft presence coming from the corner, like an invisible eye lingering beside her fire alarm. Not so threatening, but definitely _eerie_. Even though Star felt like she was under constant watch, she never felt like she was in danger. She could _sense_ him, his... aura. And she… she just wanted to talk with him again. To make up for all the time that had been stolen, to make up for the childhood she wished she had relished.

And so, after months and _months_ of being attuned to the feeling of being watched, she attempted confrontation. Late at night, when her parents had long gone to bed, Star brought her knees into her chest and leaned against her headboard, making herself tiny. She stared into that corner, where the fire alarm was hung on the wall. And the feeling of _wrongness_ swelled. Pushing down the terror that lingered in her throat, she spoke to it, "_Richard_?"

And her brother replied in that language; garbled syllables and layers of static that sounded _so_ distinct yet uncannily fleeting. The sound of his voice, laced with tones of death was unmistakable. Yet, she didn't understand, and she wasn't even sure if _he_ understood her either. She'd cried, cried into her pillow… cried out-

_"__I just want to understand…."_

-for her older brother, that had been taken too early. He'd only been a child, not even eleven years old when he was diagnosed with cancer. And she had been nine, oblivious to the hardships her brother would endure over the next few months. How his fair would fall out, eventually leaving him bald and sickly.

A few months after he started chemo, she'd tried to mimic him. She'd opened her rockstar pencil pouch, the one with hot pink guitars, and rummaged through it until she found her big girl scissors. Not the safety scissors, but the sharper pair her Dad bought her for fourth grade art class. She'd been ready to do it, standing in front of the sink, when Richard knocked on the bathroom door. She didn't have the heart to ignore him, so she opened the door. And at that moment, he knew; he saw the scissors and he put two and two together.

Richard, at the tender age of twelve, he sat her down on the toilet and smiled. It was a bittersweet expression, "You don't want to do that Scarlett."

"Yeah, I do," she protested. "I want my hair to be like yours. Even in a TV show, there was a character who cut his hair to match his sister's!" Tears welled in her eyes, "I want to do this for _you_."

"You don't have to cut your hair for me to tell that you care," he'd replied, touching her shoulder. "Hair… is temporary. But the way you care for someone, if you put enough effort… that gesture can last a _lifetime_."

Contrary to cliche, he hadn't said that it lasted 'forever'. Instead, he'd said a 'lifetime', aware of how little time he had left. It was that simple word choice that evaded her ten-year-old self, something she should have seen, but hadn't.

"But… can I do it anyway?" she asked, eyeing the scissors with temptation. She liked her hair, but that TV show she'd seen had demonstrated how much of an impact this action could deliver.

"No," he shook his head. "No, Star."

She blinked, "Star?"

"Yeah," he laughed. "Star. Because you're always going above and beyond. And it rhymes with _Scar_-lett."

She giggled, forgetting the scissors. "Star… I - I like that."

When he died, not three weeks later, her parents were convinced that her new nickname was a 'coping mechanism'. They tried to discourage it, but eventually she won out. And later, she was known as nobody _but_ Star. Her school friends forgot that she was the younger sister of the poor boy with Leukemia… that had been Scarlett, after all. _Star_ was like her reinvented identity, a piece of Richard to silently live on with her….

And years later, Richard was literally haunting her. She was so close to him, so close to talking to him yet there was a language barrier she had to cross. And if Danny Fenton was her guide, then so be it.

"A ghost in your house?" Fenton asked. "And you know… who it is?"

She didn't like sharing it, but for the sake of winning him over… "My brother," she admitted. "He isn't as strong as the other ghosts, and he only sees to really haunt me at home. But I really… just want to have a _conversation_."

"So he's not corporeal or anything?" Fenton put together. He seemed more assertive than earlier, more… engaged. "You can just… hear him?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. So he did know more about ghosts than he'd let on….

"That probably means that he's in the Ghost Zone, still. Not your house. The ghosts in Amity are so powerful because their physical forms are actually _in_ Amity. He's in the Ghost Zone, probably trapped in a mirror version of your house… his lair." Star nodded, vaguely comprehending. Clearly, Fenton did know more about ghosts than he'd initially let on…. "I've encountered a ghost like that before, in a mirror here at the school; he was able to interact with the school minimally from the Ghost Zone. Though… it would probably take a few years for the connection to build, how long has he been-"

Her reply was automatic, "Six years."

"Oh yeah. That's - probably the right amount of time. Why he has only appeared now," he explained.

"I just haven't talked to him in so long," she reminisced. "And I was so young when he passed… so I feel like this is our second chance." This was it, this was her closing move. Star reached forward and placed her hand on Fenton's shoulder - a sympathetic draw, "And _you_ are the only person who can help me."

Danny, albeit hesitant, nodded. "Al - alright. I guess we can have lessons, if you're up for them? I gotta warn you, I _never_ have a consistent schedule."

That… actually worked? Well, of course it did - she was a _master_ of persuasion. All it took was one tug on the heartstrings. "Really?" she asked. "Thank you, Danny!"

"I can give you my number," he nodded, fishing out his phone. "I'll text you whenever I'm free, so sorry if it's last minute. My life is pretty hectic."

"I understand," she dismissed. "Half the time I do anything it's last minute, since Paulina is always so finnicky about what _she_ wants to do."

"Sounds stressful," he amended. He handed her his phone and she put her contact information it.

"I'm used to it," she shrugged, handing his phone back.

"Oh," Danny realized, eyes wide. "I have another idea."

She raised a brow, "What?"

He leaned over and unzipped his backpack, searching for something within its contents - _was that a soup can?_ \- pulling out a notebook. He placed it on the desk before carefully tearing out a page and placing the book back in his bag. He found a pencil and began to scribble, "I can write down some phrases that are rough translations. It'll be hard to transcribe ghost speak's pronunciations into the English alphabet _but_ I'll try. This way, you can have half a conversation with your brother."

Honestly, Star wouldn't be lying to say her jaw dropped just there. That was… more than she had been expecting? And that was _so _generous? Was this the same kid who had been stubbornly refusing to admit he knew ghost speak only minutes earlier? She was at a true loss for words.

"Th - thank you so much!" she declared. "I really didn't-"

"Don't worry, I gotcha covered," Fenton smiled. He wrote down at least half a page of phrases before folding the paper and handing it out to Star. She regarded the paper carefully, making extra sure to place it somewhere in her backpack where it wouldn't get horribly crumpled.

"Seriously, you don't know how much I appreciate _all_ of this," she made sure that he knew.

"Really, it's no problem Star. I get how it must be, being so close to someone you love and unable to communicate… sounds like it sucks," he recounted. "As long as you don't tell anyone I know ghost speak-"

"-and as long as _you_ don't tell anyone that we're talking to each other," she bargained. "I have to keep my reputation, after all."

Fenton laughed, "Okay, that's fair." He paused, "Hey, do you want to do a lesson this Saturday, at the library? I'd say my place but my parents are a mess. Besides, this time of the year the only person at the library is my sister, so…."

"Sounds good," Star agreed. "I'll try to be there. Just text me when."

That worked out _brilliantly_. Soon, she would be able to roughly communicate with her brother again, after so, so long. And to think, all this started when she heard Danny mutter under his breath. If it hadn't been for that single moment… well, God knows how she would've dealt with this.


	20. Underappreciated Fashion

**Days Twenty-Seven/Twenty-Nine: Fashion/Favorite Prompt**

**My Favorite Prompt is _Underappreciated_ from Phanniemay 2014 and 2015. ******Spike is the closest person outside of Team Phantom that Jazz seems to have any sort of friendship with and that's really underappreciated :(****

**Word Count: 2476**

**Genre: Friendship**

* * *

As three o'clock rolled around, students fled from their classrooms with a designated objective to escape. A majority of students flocked towards the bus loading area, while stragglers lingered behind. Jazz Fenton tiptoed to open her locker, a brown-haired boy behind her. It wasn't uncommon to see the two together these days; since the beginning of seventh grade, Jazz and Spencer had bonded over a lot.

They were both stellar students with high aspirations, idolatry pupils of Amity Middle School. Yet, until they met in Honors Algebra I, both had been ostracized, alone. It wasn't until their third or so conversation that they really hit it off; apparently both of them felt like their parents misunderstood them. Jazz's parents were eccentrics, wannabe ghost hunters who supported their daughter's achievements but in turn neglected her social development. Spencer's parents were strict, traditionalists that clamped down on every aspect of his life with unwavering judgement. _That rock song is a bit too rowdy, that Japanese cartoon is much too inappropriate, that shirt looks like a devil worshipper's, learning guitar won't help you become a doctor,_ et cetera….

Jazz had an interest in psychology. From her research, she determined that by limiting Spencer's interests, they were harming him in ways untold. They believed that darker clothes and loud music indicated lower intelligence, that going to anime club and poetry slams were a waste of time. Fashion _clearly_ didn't determine someone's IQ nor one's abilities, that was just a fact. Adolescents should be allowed to a little space to express their identity to feel happiest as _themselves_, and Jazz's psychology textbooks supported that.

So, with a little persuasion, she developed a… _plan_ to help Spencer break free of his parents' overbearing authority. Maybe it was a bit on the wild side, but Jazz had nothing but good intentions. If it's what Spencer wanted, then she would assist him.

She rummaged through her locker, finding what she was looking for; six months worth of her savings, around three hundred dollars. Her family was a bit on the richer side, still middle class, but had enough money leftover from their government funding to pay a fairly good allowance. Spencer didn't know how much money she was just _giving_ to him, so she did her best to subtly pocket it; he didn't need to know, otherwise he'd refuse this entire plan. He was nervous enough as it was….

"I'm not sure about this," he muttered. "I've never walked anywhere _alone_."

Jazz closed her locker, turning to face him. "How are you alone if I'm here?" she asked. She started walking towards the school's front exit, leading him down the hallway.

"You know what I mean," he looked behind him, afraid that someone would be there, ready to stop them. "Alone as in there's no adults with us…."

"Oh, well. I walk around town sometimes but not a lot. It's usually fine," she dismissed. She nudged him encouragingly, "Just remember, your parents think that you're studying at my house right now. They won't catch us."

"I… I know…." he looked down. They were nearing the door now, almost outside….

Jazz picked up on his reluctance and softened. "Are you having second thoughts? Because we don't _have_ to do this…" she offered.

"No," Spencer shook his head. "I want to. You really helped me see that I should stop letting my parents stifle my identity."

"Alright." They'd reached the doors. Jazz walked forward and pushed them open, allowing Spencer to walk through first. "After you," she grinned. And together, they walked outside, leaving Amity Middle in their tracks.

* * *

The mall was luckily only a fifteen minute walk away. Every time a car passed, Spencer clammed up, afraid that it would be someone who knew him - that they would get caught before they even began their risky plan. By the time they made it to the parking lot, the high school had already let out of school. To buffer the bus schedule, Amity Middle released students before Casper High, that way the buses had time to drive between schools.

There were tons of teens just hanging outside the mall, goofing off and leaning over their cars. Pretty girls laughing with each other, leaning to the arms of their boyfriends as they walked towards the food-court. On the other side, there were delinquents standing by the dumpsters, passing around cigarettes, chain-smoking. The mall cop around the corner didn't notice, oblivious… or maybe just tired of trying to reprimand them.

It was surreal; both Jazz and Spencer were just used to going home after school, they didn't _really_ realize that other kids didn't do the same. Of course, these were High Schoolers… and the guys near the dumpster looked like soon-to-be dropouts. Jazz and Spencer weren't missing out much by typically being goody-two-shoes, that's for sure. Even if they had broken a few rules today by going somewhere without their parents' permission, it's not like they were _bad _kids.

"Don't look over there," Jazz caught Spencer staring at the guys near the dumpsters for too long. She ushered him towards the mall's entrance, "They could beat us up. Come on."

"Okay," Spencer agreed, readverting his attention.

They walked through the entrance, still saddling their backpacks, and found the nearest directory. Jazz traced her finger along the list until she found the store she wanted. "Second story, above the foodcourt, across from Yankee Candle," she grinned. "Are you excited?"

"Kinda?" Spencer laughed. They moved from the directory to the escalator. "This'll be my first time actually buying stuff I like instead of _stupid_ striped sweaters."

"I'd never thought I'd see you so excited to go shopping," Jazz commented dryly.

"You're excited too. And I thought you weren't into girly activities, _Ms. Aspiring Psychologist Extraordinaire_."

"Okay, _punkrocker_," she rolled her eyes. "I'd hardly count shopping at Hot Topic a 'girly activity'."

There were on the second floor now, "Well," Spencer defended, "you gotta admit that the essence of shopping is girly."

"Oh really? Or is that just a societal perception? Is it girly when you go shopping at the grocery store, or for those anime books-"

"-manga. They're called _manga_, Jazz."

"See," she pointed out. "You're passionate about those. Just because you like shopping for those doesn't make you girly. Using money to exchange for goods is not a 'girly activity', it's just marketed as something that women enjoy because of years of stereotyping in our society."

Spencer laughed, "Do you have to turn everything I say into a debate?"

"Maybe," she shrugged, looking away from Spencer for a moment. Just two storefronts away was their destination, "Oh, look we're here."

Before them was a grungy exterior with red, jagged letters, 'Hot Topic', and a wide arched doorway with a metal veneer. The front windows were lined with dark t-shirts and glossy posters of popular rock bands and superhero movies. Jazz had seen the storefront in passing before, but she never really focused on how many different things they sold. Spencer stood beside her, also breath-taken, "Wow…."

"Ready to redefine your look?" she smiled.

They stepped into the store, and almost instantly Spencer found something to focus on. "Jazz, oh my God they have Blink-182 t-shirts!"

She'd never heard of that band but nodded encouragingly, "Cool!"

"I'm getting it," he decided, finding a shirt in his size before flocking to another section of the store. She saw his eyes, they were much more jubilant than she had ever seen them. This was… _freeing_ for him. Getting to chose his own fashion for the first time in his life was crucial for him to express his interests, and she would support that no matter what. After picking out a few t-shirts, she noticed that Spencer was lingering by a glass case of different piercings.

"I think these are cool," he decided. "I want some one day."

"I think you have to be sixteen," Jazz pointed out. "And even then… I think you need parental permission."

He seemed a bit disheartened, but not wholly. "What about ear piercings?" Spencer raised a brow. "I've known girls who've had those since like… _pre-K_."

"I don't know," Jazz slumped. "We can research it later, if you want?"

"That'd be nice," he hummed, turning to find something else.

They'd chosen Friday afternoon to shop, so there weren't many other patrons. The only other people in the store were the cashier, a black-haired girl wearing a lace crop top and a lanyard with buttons; and a quiet, blue-haired boy browsing through figurines called Funkos.

"I want these jeans but I don't know if they'll fit me," Spencer complained, holding out a pair of black, ripped jeans. "Shirts are easy but I don't know about these…"

"There should be a dressing room somewhere," Jazz suggested. She subtly pointed towards the gloomy cashier, "I'd ask her."

He tensed, nervously. "I… I can't _talk_ to her. It's gonna be _awkward_," he stressed. "I have social anxiety, I can't just ask people things!"

"Well _I_ don't know where the dressing room is," Jazz frowned. "Asking her won't be that hard. It's her job to help customers."

"No, you don't get it," Spencer fretted. "I really can't do it Jazz. Asking someone I - I don't _know_ is just scary. I'm… I'm just not going to get these jeans," he set them down.

"You don't have to do that, you _like_ them," Jazz reasoned. "Do you want me to ask her instead?"

"I… I guess," he blushed, embarrassed that he had to rely on Jazz to ask for him.

"Hey," she sensed his shame, "don't worry about it. We all have that. I know why you're nervous about this, talking to people can be hard when you don't know what to expect. Why do you think you're my only friend, dummy?"

"I… you're right, Jazz."

"Good, now you're going to try on those jeans," Jazz approached the cashier, Spencer fidgeting anxiously beside her.

* * *

They stayed at Hot Topic for around two hours. In that time, Spencer accumulated eight black punk and anime t-shirts, a red flannel jacket, a Misfits hoodie, four pairs of skinny jeans, and a red beanie. Jazz ended up carrying the jeans, flannel, and beanie while Spencer hefted the t-shirts and hoodie. They both ended up struggling because they still had their backpacks on, but eventually they managed to carry Spencer's loot to the counter.

The cashier was unfazed by their excess purchase and rang it up wordlessly. "That's $289.24. You got the buy one get one $5 deal for the t-shirts, buy one get one free deal for the jeans, and twenty percent off your other purchases," she recounted. "Will that be all?"

Jazz looked up from where she had been looking. Below the counter they had buckets of various pins. "Yeah, it w-"

"How much are the pins?" Spencer cut her off, noticing her interest in the buckets.

"We have a buy one get two free deal for those right now," the cashier shrugged. "They're like… three bucks."

Even though Jazz had made it clear that she was covering most of the purchase, Spencer used one hand to unzip the front compartment of his backpack. He fumbled for his wallet and pulled out a ten dollar bill. "Pick out whichever ones you want," he smiled.

"Spence-"

"Go ahead, I know you like the Disney ones. You've already done this much for me."

"I… okay," she surrendered, realizing that if she didn't pick anything out, he would probably use his own judgement to pick _for_ her. She ended up picking out six pins: two Beauty and the Beast pins, a Sleeping Beauty pin, a music note pin, a unicorn pin, and a pin that said 'Too Tired to Function'.

The cashier scoffed, "Relatable," when she scanned the last pin. She started bagging their purchase up. "Do you have an email?" she asked

"Uh, yeah…" Spencer said.

"I'll you sign up for our subscription, that way you'll get Hot Cash in the mail," she recited. "What's your email address?"

"Uh - signing me up… uh…" he stuttered. He really didn't want his parents to see the coupons, even though he _did_ want them. If it was possible, he was planning to buy more stuff from here.

"You got this," Jazz gave him a thumbs up.

He hesitantly gave her his email address, and she started inputting his information. "Name?" If his parents did find the coupons in the mailbox… the last thing he would want was for _his_ name to be attached to it.

"I - uh… Sp- Spike," he improvised.

"Don't want your real name, huh kid?" the cashier laughed, "That's fine."

Jazz gave him a playful look. "_Spike_, huh? Sounds a lot more punk than Spencer." She nudged him in elbow, "I like it."

"I came up with it on the spot," he admitted.

He ended up giving the casher the rest of his information and he and Jazz walked out of the store. From there, Jazz ended up using her Blackberry to text her parents. "Hopefully Mom picks us up," she complained. "If Dad is the one driving, it'll be a heck of a ride."

"Yeah," Spencer agreed. He'd only ridden with Jack Fenton once and once was enough. "So… how am I going to sneak all this home?" he gestured to the three Hot Topics bags that they had split between them. "It won't all fit in my backpack. If my parents catch me with these clothes… they'll throw them out."

"Oh, I've already thought of that," Jazz smiled. "For now, I'll keep the clothes. Then you'll text me the outfit you want to wear and I'll bring it to school. Then you can change into it! It won't work forever, but until we figure out how to make your parents accept your new fashion this'll have to work."

"That's… a pretty solid plan," he amended. _It really wasn't._

Jazz's phone buzzed, diverting her attention. She scanned the screen, "Mom just texted back. She'll be here in like three minutes since she was already at the grocery store. She'll take you home, we just have to get to the other side of the mall."

"Sounds good," he nodded, following Jazz back down the escalator.

He'd only had his new clothes for less than a few hours, but Spencer already felt a lot more… free. More himself. On the inside, he was still the same dorky honors student who loved going to poetry slams and watching anime, but on the outside he was more grungy, edgy, goth. More _comfortable_ in his own skin.

Fashion doesn't define who one is on the inside, it's just a fun way to express one's identity. And well, his new identity? That name earlier - _Spike_ \- that had a hell of a good ring to it. After Jazz's assurance, he was considering keeping it.


	21. Vacation

**Day Twenty-Eight: Vacation**

**Word Count: 3935**

**Genre: Humor**

* * *

For most people, spring break was a breath of fresh air, a relief. No more school work therefore no more stress. But… given the circumstances, Danny wasn't most people. No, spring break meant _more_ stress for him; at least when school was in session he knew what to expect. He'd been fighting ghosts for three years now, so he was conditioned to the lack of sleep, bruises, excuses, the same enemies, the same lectures…. School was a cycle, predictable, repeating.

And spring break, was not.

It was against his better judgement, that Danny allowed Tucker to persuade him to go on vacation with his family. ("It's Senior year dude, we have to do _something_ before college!") Danny's obsession screamed otherwise, it nagged and lashed and whispered _something will go wrong. Leaving Amity Park means no protection, no protection means invasion, invasion means people will get hurt. Hurt, hurt, hurt-_

Deep down, he didn't want to go on a roadtrip with the Foleys. But he figured he'd throw Tucker a bone, try to ignore the incessant worries that plagued his mind. Because Tucker was right, High School was almost over and one last hurrah with his best friend before they walked the stage was what they needed. They needed this roadtrip because their time was almost up….

And even though things _could_ go wrong, it wasn't a guarantee. After all, Valerie was slated to stay in Amity Park for spring break, so hey! It wasn't completely unprotected. Yet his ghostly nature denied any mental relief. Danny's mind was a war of stress and reason, worries and logic. His obsession trying to dominate his desire to have a memorable spring break. He fought it with positive thoughts, clung to Tucker's occasional assurances, and hoped for the best.

Three days into the trip, Danny actually managed to convince himself that there was nothing to worry about! According to Sam, who'd faked illness to get out of her family's fiftieth trip to Europe, Valerie and his parents were doing a good job protecting the town in his absence. The only ghosts to wander out of the portal were Skulker, who returned to the Ghost Zone when he realized Danny was gone; a few docile animal ghosts; Technus, who was easily stopped when Valerie recruited Nathan to hack Technus's tech; and Ember, who was eventually subdued by his parents.

"See," Tucker pointed out, "I told you there was nothing to worry about, dude! And we're having a good time, so this is totally worth it!"

At the moment, they were in a hotel somewhere in West Virginia. They'd only made a handful of stops in the past few days, usually staying in hotels outside of big cities to see the sights without as much traffic. Mr. and Mrs. Foley were actually really fun to travel with, unlike his own parents - this was probably Danny's first vacation _ever_ that didn't revolve around ghosts. They even booked Danny and Tucker their own room beside their own instead of just lodging together in the Ghost Assault Vehicle.

Danny leaned back on the edge of his bed, shooting a side glance towards Tucker, "Yeah, yeah, don't jinx it, dude."

Tucker laughed. He crinkled up a pamphlet he'd taken from the last rest area and threw it at Danny, who turned intangible on instinct. "Paranoid," he teased.

"Pretty much," Danny agreed. He leaned back on his bed and groaned. He shifted his weight when something in his back pocket jabbed him, and took out his phone. He held it above him, habitually checking for new notifications when he noticed that the Wifi symbol was gray. "Hey what's the wifi password?" he prompted Tucker, knowing that by now the technogeek had already connected all his devices.

"sillyraisin248," Tucker recited. "All lowercase, no spaces."

Danny paused, "How do you spell raisin?"

Tucker raised a brow, "You don't know how to spell _raisin_?"

"It's with an 'e', right? r-a-i-s-e-n?" Danny tried typing it in his phone. The network rejected the password and Danny frowned. "I guess not."

"It's with two 'i's," Tucker took pity on him.

"Oh. Thanks," this time, the network accepted the spelling. He scrolled through his notifications and dismissed most of them, already bored of social media. He'd spent enough time on it today in the car when Tucker had fallen asleep staring at the monotonous scenery of the interstate.

"My Mom just texted me," Tucker announced, tilting his head towards the wall. "She wants us to look up nearby restaurants and decide where to eat."

"Oh, cool," Danny nodded. He searched Google for a few minutes before consulting Tucker, "So which places are you interested in? I'm kinda leaning towards that Italian place."

"Eh…." Tucker tilted his head back and forth. "The reviews on their website say it's overpriced. I know Dad _loves_ a good chicken parm so I already checked."

"Well that's a bummer," Danny rolled his eyes. "Okay. So what about… 'the Cowabunga Chicken'? Wait, that doesn't make sense. 'Cowabunga' is Hawaiian, right? It says it's a steakhouse?"

"Well, something obviously went wrong when they were choosing _their_ name," Tucker laughed. "I was actually thinking about just going to Sonic; it's cheap, we don't have to leave the car, and they closed the one near us years ago."

"Oh yeah, I remember that place! Before they shut down, we got banned because Dad took out three rows of menu displays with the GAV."

Tucker snorted, "Are you sure they didn't have to shut down _because _of your dad?"

Danny thought about it for a moment, "It's a possibility. It wouldn't be the first business he's killed." He paused before throwing Tucker a cheeky grin, "_I_ would know, after all."

"Oh yes," Tucker deadpanned, "Danny Fenton, established 2004 - killed tragically by his dad. Sometimes I can still hear his voice…."

They both laughed. Once their laughter died down, Danny looked back at his phone and calculated the distance between their hotel and Sonic. "That seems like it isn't too far. Will your parents mind that it's fast food?"

"Nah," Tucker decided. "Back in the day Mom used to always get me their slushies. She was heartbroken when it shut down. Well, it wasn't the end of the world but it just kind of sucked."

"Yeah," Danny nodded.

"Alright, I'm texting them right now…" Tucker said. It was only a matter of seconds before he got a response. "Mom said it's cool. We'll leave in like… what time is it?"

Even though Tucker had a clock on his phone, Danny responded anyway, "Like ten 'till seven."

"We'll leave in ten minutes," he determined. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

"Okay," Danny turned back to his cellphone. He was just about to get on a gaming app when he noticed that he had a new notification from Amity Park's news app. Apparently it was from three minutes ago. Weird. Usually they didn't send out push notifications unless… unless something was wrong.

_Shit_.

Danny clicked on the notification and momentarily forgot how to breathe. Not like he needed to breathe anyway but-

_6:52 PM RED ALERT. _**_GHOST INVASION._**_ALL CITIZENS TAKE SHELTER UNDER GHOST SHIELD. CLICK _**_HERE_**_FOR SHIELD LOCATIONS._

Ancients Amity was being invaded right now and he was all the way out in West Virginia, hundreds of miles away from home. No, no, no-

_It's all my fault. I never should have left. I protect the town, I keep people safe - of _course _this would happen the moment I leave! Valerie and Mom and Dad can only do so much!_

His obsession was compelling him to rock back and forth now, rubbing it in that _you didn't protect them. _And somewhere, a door opened. Danny looked up and realized that Tucker was staring at him. And he was still rocking, like a maniac - _stop, dumass._

"Uh, dude. What's up?" Tucker tested the waters.

Danny blinked at him. "Y - you didn't get the notification?"

"What notification?" he questioned. "From who?"

"The news app," he replied shakily.

"Why would _I_ have a news app?" he pointed out. Then, he realized, "What did it say? Is everything all right?"

Danny wordlessly shook his head and held out his phone for Tucker to read himself. For him to understand what he had done wrong, to understand how he had _failed_. Tucker narrowed his eyes and looked back at Danny. "The screen's black, dude."

"Oh." Danny put his thumb over the button and turned it on, checking to see if it was on the correct screen and let Tucker read. His eyes went wide when he processed the alert and took a step closer to Danny.

"Dude, this isn't your fa-"

"_Yes_, it is Tucker!" he protested. "If only I hadn't come on vacation Amity wouldn't be invaded right now and people are in danger and I'm an another freaking state! I can't - can't do anything! I _failed _them, failed the city, failed to be Danny Phantom! Failed to be the hero…. I never should have…."

Tucker set a hand on Danny's shoulder, attempting to assure him. "You couldn't have predicted this."

"But I did predict it! I predicted it and - and I came anyway!"

Tucker didn't flinch when Danny's eyes blazed green. "You can't live in fear of every possibility that could happen. This trip may have been a gamble, but there's no way you could have told me with one hundred percent certainty that this was going to happen. You're _allowed_ to live your life-"

"No," he murmured, "'m not alive."

"Don't you start that half-dead emo crap again," Tucker scolded. "You're not at fault for this. I doubt that your absence was the catalyst for this invasion. All your regular foes lose interest in Amity when you're not there, so chances are that this is not _because_ of you. Val and your parents are probably holding up shop for now and everyone has been told to go under ghost shields. It'll be _alright_."

"No, no it's not," Danny denied. "Maybe now… but they won't last long. I - I have to fix this. I hafta go back home. Physically I _can't_ stay here… my obsession is already... " he held up his hand and showed Tucker how bad he was shaking. "I gotta go."

He stood up from the bed, pushing Tucker's hand off of him and stood in the middle of the room to transform. Tucker watched him worriedly as he changed into Phantom. His blue hoodie dissolved into his black jumpsuit, paired with ethereal floating hair and determined green eyes.

"Danny, you can't just _leave_ now. We're six-hundred miles from home! What about my parents? Your stuff? We have a few more days left."

"I can't stay for _days_ Tuck," Danny said darkly. His aura flickered fiercely, longingly. "They need me now and you know that. It was… a good trip. I'll see you when you get back, okay?"

"Seriously, Danny," he protested. "You can't just _go_-"

Danny was already floating by the window. His legs morphed into a spectral tail and he looked back towards Tucker one last time. "I'm sorry, I can't stay. Bye Tuck."

"Wait-!"

And he phased through the window. Tucker was left alone in their hotel room. He didn't bother looking out the window to try and lure Danny back because he knew it was too late, he was long gone. Danny's top speed was two-hundred miles per hour, meaning that he would be back in Amity Park in three hours at the latest.

"Why does he always do this to me?" Tucker complained to himself, launching himself back onto his bed in a frustrated slump. He pulled out his phone and decided to text Sam, since he doubt Danny would remember to do it. Actually... did Danny even take his phone? Tucker glanced back at Danny's bed - his phone was still there. _That was a no…._

He typed out a message to Sam. He let her know that Danny was on the way and asked about the details of the invasion for reference. She didn't text back immediately so he assumed that she was out fighting, which was a predictable of Sam. Knowing her, she probably snuck into the Fenton Vault herself and raided it for the most powerful weapons she could find. It's not like it was hard sneaking into Fenton works, after all.

With nothing else to do, Tucker decided that he would check the internet for news about the invasion since he had little to no information about it. However, before he could search for anything, there was a knock on their room's door.

"Boys! We're leaving now!" his mom called from the other side.

_Oh no_. How was he supposed to explain to his parents that Danny was just… _gone? _It's not like he could tell them '_Oh yeah, Danny has to go protect the town so he turned into a ghost and flew through the window. I wouldn't worry about it.'_

"J - just a minute Mom!" he replied. He had to think of something and _fast_.

Okay, okay, okay-

Danny was here, now he's not. And he won't be coming back. So maybe… maybe he left the hotel and got on a bus? Maybe he had to go back home because his Mom fell and broke her ankle? No, his parents kept up in the news in Amity Park. They would know about the invasion, they would know that Danny's parents would never invite him home _during_ an invasion. Besides, all of Danny's luggage was still in the room so if he went somewhere he'd have to take it with him, right?

He needed a new idea.

Maybe-! Maybe Danny went downstairs to the laundromat to wash his clothes! Maybe he spilled something on his shirt and was so embarrassed he decided to wash it immediately? But why wouldn't he just put on a new shirt instead? _Uhh-_

What if a ghost followed Danny _all_ the way from Amity Park, flew into their room, and kidnapped him? It wasn't too far-fetched since Vlad kidnapped Danny all the time! But… his parents didn't know _that. _And other than Vlad, no ghosts left Amity Park either. That and ghosts officially had no reason to kidnap Danny _Fenton_.

Tucker was running out of time and he couldn't think of any excuses. Maybe he could just shove a bunch of pillows under Danny's covers and pretend he was sick. If anything, that would at least buy time….

"-you two okay in there? I _told_ you we were leaving at seven, so _come_ on!" his mom jiggled the doorknob.

"Hh - we - we're good!" Tucker panicked.

"You want food or not? Every other night you two have like starving wolves…" Mom trailed off.

In a last ditch attempt, Tucker decided to try the pillow thing. It was the stupidest idea ever, but it was the smartest excuse he could contrive in this damned situation. Tucker pulled all the pillows off his own bed, and began shoving them under Danny's sheets. He tried moving them to look person-shaped, but the bed only looked lumpy. He bit back a frustrated growl and kicked the bottom of the bed in desperation. That hadn't been a good idea; he wasn't wearing shoes yet so that _hurt_ like a-

"Motherfucker!" he cursed.

"_Excuse_ me?" his mom cried from the other side of the door.

"N - nothing," he yelled back. _Oh shit she was going to be _pissed.

"Open this door this instant!" she demanded, pounding against it. He wasn't done arranging the pillows yet, though. The bed still looked like a lumpy mess; it was never going to be believable enough that Danny was in it-!

"_Tucker Benjamin Foley_, I mean it!"

"Angela, honey, we're at a hotel," his dad said, quieter. "We're not at home."

"That damn boy better…" Mom muttered.

Tucker gave up. This excuse would never work. And his mom was already angry enough. He was out of time, out of luck. He had no idea how he was going to get himself out of this one. With no other choice, Tucker hung his head and walked towards the door. There was no preventing this confrontation; he would have to tell his parents that Danny was gone, and he wouldn't be able to explain _how_.

He reached for the doorknob and pulled it open. When he met his mom's eyes it looked like a vein was ready to burst out of her forehead. "Why did I hear you cussing in there?"

"I uh… stubbed my toe," he admitted. At least _that_ wasn't a lie.

"You still shouldn't be using that language," she reprimanded. "Now, come on. Where's Danny?"

He gulped. "He's uh..." and Tucker didn't say any more. What _could_ he say?

"'He's uh' what?" his mom drew quotes in the air. She glanced over Tucker's shoulder, searching for signs of Danny.

"Not here?" was all that Tucker could manage.

"'Not here'?" she placed a hand on her hip.

"Well, where'd he go?" his dad butted in.

_Why did they have to make this so harrrd?_

"He left?" Tucker was aware that he had started sweating. These were the worst excuses that anyone had ever given in the history of excuses. Both he and his parents knew it.

His mom placed a hand on her hip, "Yeah? And how does that work? We're going to Sonic, stop messing around."

And now… his mouth was dry. "I - I can't," he managed weakly.

"I think he's serious, honey," his dad said to his mom. "Look at him. Danny's not here."

Mom's expression darkened. "Where _is_ Danny, then? Tucker, I swear you better not lie to me."

"I d - don't know," he shook his head.

"I said don't lie to me," she repeated.

"I'm not!" _Yes, he was. _Danny was flying somewhere over West Virginia right now at a superhuman speed. But would she believe that? _Hell, no_. "I really don't know."

"Then explain," she implored, leaning against the doorway. "Why did Danny leave? What did he do?"

"We were - were in our room," Tucker came up with. "And - and he saw something on his phone," which also wasn't a lie, "and he just walked out."

Dad ran his hand over his face. "W - was he angry about something? Upset?"

Tucker looked between his parents, training his eyes on a blank spot on the wall, "Upset, I think?"

"Do you think he could be waiting for us outside of the hotel?" Mom asked.

"I doubt it," Tucker responded. "I don't think we'll see him for the rest of the trip."

"What?" they echoed.

His mom placed her hand on his shoulder, "Tucker, you're not making any sense. You _gotta_ tell us what you know."

"T - that's all I know." Lying like this was so hard. Danny owes him _big_ time!

"No, I see it on your face," Mom decided. "You know and you lying. Whatever it is with Danny, I expect you to tell me because while he is on this trip with us, he is under _my _protection as a parent. If anything happens to him, it's on _me_. You got that? Now start from the beginning and fess up."

Like the sly woman she was, his mom grabbed his arm and lead him back into his hotel room, ushering his dad behind her. She sat Tucker down on his bed, making it clear that they weren't leaving until he told the truth. But he couldn't tell her! He couldn't just tell Danny's secret for a number of reasons!

First, it was Danny's secret and he didn't have a right to reveal it. Second, how would he even get them to believe him? The concept of half-ghosts was as credible as leprechauns. Third, if he told his parents about Danny being Phantom, then he would also have to admit to everything he'd done to _help_ Danny in his fights. He'd have to admit all his own secrets and lies and all the nights he spent in dangerous situations.

So telling his parents Danny's secret? It just couldn't be done.

"I can't," he admitted. "I can't out Danny like this. This is his business and as his friend, I just… _can't_."

"And I'm your mother, so get talking," she narrowed her eyes. "You brought him on this trip, but his ass is still seventeen years old, so therefore he's still a child. And you might be eighteen, but you still live under _my_ roof, got it?"

"Listen to your mother, son," Dad advised.

"I… I really can't tell you Danny's secrets," he whispered. "I wish I could, but I _can't_. Can we just leave it at that? He had to leave, and so he went. I can't tell you more than that."

His mom scrunched up the hem of her shirt, "How does a seventeen year old boy with no car, no driver's license, and no wallet 'just go'?" she tilted her heads towards the nightstand with Danny's wallet. "He's out there walking along a road somewhere, isn't he? Why can't you just tell me what this is? Tell me _where_ he is."

"No," Tucker refused.

"Don't make me say it again. I've already said it enough," she hissed. She thought for a moment, "If you don't tell me where Danny is, I will _take_ your laptop."

Oh geez, not the laptop. She was playing dirty. "I - I _need_ that for school!"

"No you don't. There's always Dad's computer," she pointed.

Tucker's eyes widened in horror. "That dinosaur? That takes like fifteen minutes to turn on! That can't even be classified as a computer."

"Well, then if you were smart you'd tell me where the hell Danny is," she threatened. "I'm not playing around Tucker, this is serious. I can't just _lose_ an entire child!"

Tucker couldn't. He couldn't betray Danny's secret over a _computer_. But his Mom… his Mom was really freaking out, he could tell. Because she was right, as the parent, she was responsible for Danny's whereabouts and now he had disappeared. He knew that he wasn't coming back on this trip, but he couldn't explain that to her without the truth.

What was the right thing to do? Lying to his Mom felt wrong. He couldn't… couldn't keep this up. On the other hand, if she knew, that was another can of worms….

_Goddamnit_.

Danny loved to make his life complicated, didn't he?

"I'm waiting, Tucker," she reminded.

"I…" he shook his head in a vain attempt to rid himself of convoluted thoughts, "_okay_."

"You're ready to tell us?" Dad asked.

"God, no. I'm not ready. But… I don't see any other choice," he gave in. Danny was going to kill him for this, but after four years his excuses had ran thin. This was the end of the line, the final lies. "It's a long story, but the gist of it is Danny went back to Amity because right now there's a ghost invasion."

His mom frowned. "I _did_ see that on my phone, but what does that have to do with…?"

"Danny felt like he had to go back because…" Tucker inhaled. This was it, the confession. "He fights ghosts. And well, he sort of is one? It's really hard to explain and I doubt you believe me, but Danny's Phantom."

Silence. His parents only stared at him, at a loss for words.

Finally, Tucker couldn't take it anymore. "Get it? Danny Phantom? Danny _Fenton_? We thought it was funny when we came up with it…" neither of his parents smiled as they processed the information. "I guess not."


	22. Moving On

**Day Thirty: Moving On**

**Word Count: 2341**

**Genre: Angst/Tragedy**

* * *

People love to preach about the individual's ability to change. With the right mindset, anyone can become a better person, anyone can mend their relationships, anyone can heal themselves. But what optimists chose to omit is that not everyone does change. Hell, even if one tries to change themselves, sometimes it just _can't_ be done. Danny was much too aware of that fact. Call him pessimistic or label him as a nihilist, but he'd seen enough of 'humanity' to believe that change was universal. One could say that humanity's greatest judge are those who are disjoint with it; and by all means, Danny was not a human.

He certainly couldn't change. He was a ghost, obsessive by nature, and he was content with that. He'd made peace with that nasty side of himself, the side that would latch onto an idea and wouldn't let it go. The part of him that refused to care for himself, the part of him that was _obsessed_ with selflessness and heroics - his hero complex, as Jazz called it. He knew that sure, in some ways that was a flaw, but he had accepted that and he wasn't going to change himself.

So in short, his ghostliness was what prevented him from changing. However, he saw that same, stubborn refusal to change within humans too. Ordinary people who clung to their own beliefs so, so tightly that they were gone; they could never come back from that, they could never change because those beliefs were a _part_ of them.

He saw it in people like Dash Baxter. As everyone did, he had the potential to change. But as it stood there was likely nothing that would shake him to change. He was always going to view himself as superior to others, even if he lightened up on physically harming them. He was always going to be arrogant, and no amount of effort would change that. It was just his character flaw, everyone had them.

Danny also saw inability to change in Valerie Gray, the once rich girl turned struggling vigilante. Although she had experience much change in her life, there were parts of her that have and would always remain the same. Her unforgiving nature was definitely something he doubted she _could _overcome. As the wealthy daughter of Damon Gray, she turned her nose up at those her crossed her; no second chances, no room for forgiveness. As the Red Huntress, she was even worse - clinging to her fury, hatred, and spite. It fueled her, and she reveled in those emotions, like an addict. So no, in that respect, Valerie could never change.

But most of all, he saw it in his parents. The two people that Danny looked up to since birth, the two people he could _always _depend on to be there for him. Gentle touches, warm hugs, and supportive whispers… they were some of the most obstinate people he knew.

Since he was a child, they had been fixed on the notion that all ghosts were vile, emotionless beings. A ghost's only useful purpose is to be examined for scientific progression. To be exhausted for research, no matter how inhumane. By his parents' explanation, humans were good, earnest creatures while ghosts were obsessive, malevolent, and selfish. While Danny could agree that ghosts were obsessive, malevolence was an extreme misconception. Seeing as how he _was _one, he figured he had enough expertise to make that claim.

His parents' stance on the nature of ghosts was firm, they refused to see ghosts as anything other than foul compositions of protoplasm with a vague impression of consciousness. That was that, and they could never change. At this point, their perception of ghosts was locked in; even if someone could disprove their claims, they wouldn't listen. They were headstrong, rigid.

And when they learned who the ghost boy was… now that had _not_ been fun.

The revelation itself wasn't so bad. Of course, he had been unconscious for most of it so he was biased. For everyone else, that night had been emotionally straining and scandalous. By the time he woke up with a bandage wrapped around the hole in chest, Mom was sobbing empty apologies… "-didn't know it was you. I didn't - n't - mean to shoot-"

He vaguely remembered her shooting him. And to tell the truth, it didn't bother him as much as it should have. She was his Mom for crying out loud and she had _shot_ him! Yet… he regarded it with a numb acceptance. "It's okay, Mom," he assured. His voice cracked, dry from the blood that had dripped down his throat. "I'm fine now."

Still, his parents continued to spout apologies like one of those fountains that they have in fancy parks, marble landmarks that gushed jets of water from the top, spilling into lower tiers. At first, their apologies hit close to home, filling Danny with a sense of satisfaction and impression of acceptance. But as they continued to apologize, their words started to spill into the fountain's bottom tier, losing their genuineness.

They claimed they loved him as he was, but he saw the look in their eyes. They were apologizing to themselves, not to _him_. Because from their perspective, they had inadvertently allowed their son to become something repulsive, inhuman. They said they loved him, but they were only trying to love his human side, just _half_ of him.

That was only the night of the revelation. From there, things only got worse.

After they got all the frivolous apologies out of the way, tension in his family was at an all time high. Suddenly talking about ghosts at the dinner table was out of the question, so they were stranded in silence. Not even Jazz knew how to navigate their new awkward reality. And using his powers at home? Forget it. They just… didn't address Danny's other side. For a while, Danny fooled himself. He convinced that his parents just weren't ready yet! That they would reach a turning point, that everything would get better, that his parents would loosen up and be more comfortable with his duality.

Danny waited. Waited for them to confront him, waited for them to start talking about hunting ghosts again. He waited for them to decide to change, waited for them to make the first move. Maybe if he had confronted them first he would've realized sooner, realized that they _weren't_ going to change. But he was hopeful - no, that was the wrong word. He had been _desperate_.

Out of everyone, Jazz was the one who got sick of it first. Of having to redirect conversations, to ignore that Danny was Phantom, to ignore what they were doing to each other. She sat them all down in the living room and gave them all a very winded, verbose lecture about opening up and addressing the situation. Danny watched his parents out of the corner of his eye, watched how they physically cringed when Jazz spoke…

"Danny _is_ a ghost," she declared. "And everyone in this room is guilty of ignoring that. It's not something that's bad, I just feel like we're digging ourselves into a hole by deliberately avoiding to recognize it!"

"It's just hard to adjust to," Mom claimed, holding herself in her arms. "I don't want to offend you, sweetie," she told Danny. "That's why I've been afraid of talking about it."

"I feel that too," Jazz nodded. "But you'll find that the more you talk about it, the fear will go away."

"It's okay if you aren't comfortable with this yet," Danny put his own piece in, "I just… as long as you _try _to be. I know how you feel about ghosts, but they're really not that bad. It was hard for me to grasp at first too, but after I spent more time around them I became more comfortable with them, and myself."

"We'll keep that in mind," Dad managed.

Afterwards, it was evident that his parents were trying to change. They were trying to shift their perception of ghosts like Danny had suggested, but it wasn't very successful. If anything, Jazz's confrontation brought talk of ghosts back to the dinner table. And with that, returned the conversations about hunting ghosts and tearing them apart molecule by molecule, followed by "but never you, Danno! We'd never hurt you!"

He wasn't entirely sure. If it wasn't for his human half, he doubted they would even try. It was clear that their beliefs were rooted and that no matter how much they tried, they couldn't change. They still stood by the opinion that ghosts were apathetic information banks. And even though they assured him otherwise, promised him that they _never_ expressed interest experimenting on him, he read in between the lines.

No matter how hard they tried, deep down, his parents would never fully accept him. That was a hard, cold fact. It wasn't a fact that Danny liked thinking about, but it was the truth. They were stubborn in their ideology and that would never, ever change. Like Danny, they were incapable of changing.

That was that. And the only thing Danny could do was move on.

His parents would never accept Phantom? Oh well, there's nothing he can do.

Moving on was the solution. Moving on was inevitable.

He still loved them, but he had to let it go. They would never reciprocate that love. Because by all means, Danny was a ghost.

And at some point down the line, he realized that they reached the same conclusion. They stopped trying to assure him that he was different than the other ghosts, stopped pretending.

"I suppose it was always destined to come to this, wasn't it?" he asked, rhetorically.

No one replied. Maybe it was better that way.

He could see his parents shuffling in his peripheral vision, preparing their instruments. He let his head drop onto the table, too tired of this game to put up a fight. He could've evaded them earlier, when they caught him. But he didn't. Because even if he did escape, he'd accepted that his parents were going to have him like this one way or another. If he left home and decided to live around town as Phantom, they'd still find him. Still capture him. And he would be back here, back on this table.

His efforts were fruitless, one way or another. He couldn't change that. This was his final destination, so why drag it out? Was he supposed to value what was left of his life? He'd let it go that his parents would never accept him, but he still loved them. He wouldn't deny them this, after they'd dreamed of it most of their career.

He just hoped it didn't hurt for too long.

"Can you promise me something?" he asked. He didn't expect them to respond - they were being very adamant in ignoring him - but he knew they could hear him. "Tell Jazz that it was a ghost attack," he contrived. "That I was bleeding out and came to you guys for medical attention. Tell her that you couldn't save me, that my injuries were fatal. Tell her… that I loved her, too."

His sister was in college now - she didn't need to know about this. She still had a somewhat good relationship with their parents.

A hand gripped his armand he recoiled at the touch. Mom scoffed at his movement, "Stay still."

"Sorry," he apologized. From what he could see at this angle, she was positioning a large syringe over one of his arteries. He wanted to ask what it was, but to tell the truth he knew it wouldn't matter. It was probably a drug to keep him docile while they tore him apart.

He hissed when she jabbed the needle into him, reflexively pulling against his restraints. After about ten seconds, she pulled it out, and he slumped back against the table. "Sorry, sweetie," she muttered. He wondered if she still considered him her son or if it was an automatic response. "Can you change?"

He wracked his mind, trying to understand her question. It took him a moment to realize that she wanted him to change into ghost form. Well, that made sense. He doubted that they would want to vivisect him while he still looked human. That, and in ghost form all his ectoplasmic functions would be active.

Transforming was easy as moving a limb, a mental command that was just _there_ in his head. It felt weird acknowledging that this was going to be the last time he was ever going to make the change - that he would likely never be in human form again. _I've moved on_. _Don't think too hard_.

"Jack, do you have the tube ready?" Mom whirled around, addressing his father.

"Got it," he chirped.

Danny heard the exchanging of hands and then beefy hands clamped down on his shoulders. "Open wide, ghost," Dad spoke. Confused, Danny did as he said, opening his mouth. With a touch as gentle as a tempest, something flexible and plastic was shoved down his throat, scratching against his walls. Until the tube was adjusted, Danny gagged and gagged and _gagged-_

And then suddenly he could breathe again.

The surgical light switched on and it hovered over him. Its light was intense and unyielding, but Danny thought it was somewhat comforting. A final sunset before he went to bed, his eternal sleep. _That sounds comforting_.

"Ready when you are, Mads," Jack said. His red goggles glinted behind the lamp.

With his words, Danny started to feel the effects of whatever was in the syringe Mom had injected him with. The world tilted spectacularly for a moment and snapped back into to place. Black spots graced the edge of his vision and he got one last glimpse of a pair of scissors - most likely intended to cut his suit open. Everything was swallowed by the blackness and Danny fell into it, blissfully.

His parents could never accept him.

He'd moved on.


End file.
